Crosstown's crossover leaves some cross-eyed

Last update: October 31, 2008 - 5:14 AM

For 40-some years, southbound drivers on Interstate 35W knew how things worked: The right lane took them west on Crosstown Hwy. 62, and the left lane sent them east.

On Thursday, right became east, left became south and drivers became very confused.

The switch happened overnight, and while there are orange signs explaining the change, not everyone noticed them.

Pauline Bartels of Minneapolis got on 35W at Diamond Lake Road as she always does, stayed in the right lane and inadvertently wound up heading toward the airport. Many cars were exiting so they could reverse course and go the way they'd really wanted to, she said.

The big switch was supposed to have taken place this past Monday, after the weekend closure of 35W, but weather delayed the move, said Joy Miciano, a spokeswoman for the I-35W/Hwy. 62 reconstruction project. She said some radio stations announced the switch that day even though it didn't happen.

But on Thursday, it did, and Bartels should have aimed for the center lane, which leads to westbound Hwy. 62.

"I'll take side streets tomorrow," she said.

When the nearly $300 million project is complete in 2010, all drivers wanting to go from 35W southbound to the Crosstown will take a right-hand exit that will split into two lanes heading east and two heading west.

Miciano said the current configuration will last about a year.

JIM FOTI