The early portion of the rush was great for commuters in the west metro. Then 7 a.m. hit and things soured in a hurry.
That meant drivers ran into lots of slow traffic, brought on mainly by construction but a few ill-timed crashes.
All week drivers on southbound 494 have been dealing with delays between the Fish Lake Interchange and 394 due to construction. Today, northbound 494 drivers got caught up in a two-mile back up from Minnetonka Blvd. up to 394 when a motorcycle crash had the ramp to eastbound 394 closed for about a half hour.
The congestion has been slow to loosen, even an hour after the ramp reopened at 8 a.m.
A wreck on southbound 169 at 114th Avenue in Champlin led to a big knot for commuters heading into town from Anoka. Ahead, the log jam formed at 36th Avenue and remained in place down to Minnetonka Blvd. Congestion's noose on traffic is just now showing some signs of loosening.
Hwy. 100 in both directions suffered through the work zone between Excelsior Blvd. and Cedar Lake Road. At least traffic was moving. Starting at 10 p.m., no traffic will be getting through. The highway will be shut down until 5 a.m. Monday. Details forthcoming in my weekend traffic update.
A reminder that West River Pkwy. from 26th to 29th Streets is closed today until 3 p.m. as crews attempt to rescue a car that went over an embankment Tuesday night.
East metro drivers and those in the north, no fuss no muss. Few problems or incidents made for a fabulous drive for a sunny April day.