First, let’s focus on the positive: Three of the five freeway routes leading to downtown Minneapolis won’t be shut down this weekend.

But getting to the Vikings game will be just about as challenging as it has ever been when the team’s regular season begins Sunday. Not only is the Interstate 35W bridge out, but I-35W will be closed between downtown and Crosstown Hwy. 62 starting Friday night, and streets adjacent to the Metrodome will be blocked off for much of the day Sunday.

Also, the westbound lanes of the Crosstown from Cedar Avenue (Hwy. 77) to Lyndale Avenue will be shut down for the weekend.

The south Minneapolis section of 35W will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday so the 50th Street bridge over the freeway can be removed as part of the Crosstown Commons reconstruction.

New beams will be placed for the nearby Diamond Lake Road bridge, which has been out for months, and Minnehaha Parkway, which passes under 35W, will be closed to cars, bikes and pedestrians from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

So in addition to the north-south troubles, “east-west flow is going to be much more challenging than the last time, and it wasn’t all that pretty last time,” said Don Sobania, an engineer for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, referring to the June closure of the same stretch of 35W.

Vikings fans who do claw their way downtown will find parts of several streets adjacent to the Metrodome blocked off from two hours before the noon kickoff until an hour after the game ends. This has been a standard game-day security measure for several NFL seasons. The closures include stretches of S. 5th and S. 6th Streets, which connect to Interstate 94 on the east side of downtown.

The posted detour around the weekend 35W closure sends drivers along Hwy. 100 and Interstate 394.

Reid Jorgensen, a Vikings season-ticket-holder from Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to avoid the whole mess. Instead of driving in on Hwy. 169 and 394 and parking in a ramp near Target Center, he’ll stay out near the Mall of America and take the Hiawatha line to the game. “I’m guessing the light rail’s going to be a pretty popular choice,” he said.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the traffic flows,” he said. “That’s a lot of traffic being diverted.”

The Vikings have until 2 p.m. today to sell all remaining tickets and avoid a television blackout. A Vikings official said Wednesday that traffic concerns were a factor in sluggish ticket sales.

Bits of good news

There are a few bright spots in the weekend traffic forecast:

• The entrance ramps to 35W northbound at 46th and 35th Streets aren’t expected to be closed, allowing drivers who make it that far to have a quick hop into downtown. (Minor repairs near those ramps could close them, however; MnDOT recommends calling 511 or checking 511mn.org for updates.)

• Eastbound I-94 drivers who emerge from the Lowry Tunnel will still be able to exit onto northbound 35W to access the 3rd Street/U of M exits.

• Metro Transit will have 26 cars operating on the Hiawatha light-rail line for the Vikings game, with 10 articulated buses standing by at the Fort Snelling park and ride to take extra passengers. Metro Transit staffers will be on hand at Fort Snelling, the 28th Avenue park and ride, and the Warehouse District station downtown. A round-trip downtown zone light-rail ticket allows fans who park at the Target Center parking ramps near I-394 to get from the Warehouse District to the Dome and back for $1. • The streets near the Dome won’t be closed for Saturday’s Gopher football game, which begins at 11 a.m.

Timing and safety

To try to keep vehicles moving across south Minneapolis over the weekend, traffic signals south of Franklin Avenue will be on a rush-hour settings, said city spokesman Matt Laible. That means signal cycles will last longer than non-rush hour times, allowing the streets to carry more cars.