This weekend has an unusual amount of highway work, with the big arteries closed as part of the ongoing Orange Cone Relocation project. We always complain about construction, but never give spontaneous thanks for nice new roads. I'm still amazed by the Crosstown project, which is like trying to rebuild a jet airliner in midflight while the stews are serving drinks. If everyone could get into the seats on the other side while we remove the wing? We appreciate your patience. Unfortunately, it will only get worse. Here's what's coming up next week.
The road between where you are now and where you left your cell phone will be closed until November 2011, but if we find it, we'll take a message. Unless you just want it to go to voicemail.
Highway 52 will be closed in both directions at the exit to Mobius Strip Drive while crews figure out why the exit and entrance ramps leave you right where you started.
I-94 will be reduced to one lane between St. Cloud and St. Paul, just to make you grateful when it's two lanes again. You've been taking that other lane for granted. This is what happens when you do that.
Highway 10 will have reduced speed between Clear Lake and Big Lake as enormous machines chop up the road so the entire stretch between the metro and St. Cloud consists of a washboard-surface that bangs your back teeth together. Construction is expected to last through the very last day you go up to the cabin.
Highway 36 from 35W to Stillwater will be reduced to one lane as crews put down 2,307 barrels to see how many you idiots will manage to hit over the next few weeks. Cones will be randomly placed along 694 from midnight to 3 a.m., to give the guys who watch the traffic cameras some entertainment.
35W from Hinckley to Duluth will be reduced to one lane, with both directions sharing the same lane. Expect delays, mayhem, detours, screams.
Good luck, and buckle up. Not that you'll be going faster than 4 miles per hour, but it's the law.
jlileks@startribune.com • 612-673-7858 More daily at www.startribune.com/blogs/lileks
