Monday's morning rush started quiet and with roads in great shape, but that did not prevent a trio of crashes that led to a couple big traffic snarls.

The most recent is still playing out on northbound I-494 in Plymouth at Hwy. 55. Vehicles had been blocking both sides of the freeway briefly. They have been moved to the right side. An ambulance has arrived on the scene and two right lanes are blocked.

In the backup, which extends to County Road 6, look for a fender bender on the right shoulder.

Commuters in the northeast metro were held up between 6 and 7 a.m. when a crash took out the left lane of southbound 35E at County Road 96. At one time the gridlock kicked in at County Road J, four miles to the north. That crash has long cleared and it's now a pleasant 15 minute drive into downtown St. Paul.

An early crash on westbound 94 at Hwy. 61 created some tense moments for commuters as a traffic jam had vehicle moving very slowly from White Bear Avenue into downtown St. Paul. However, the wreck was cleared in a short period of time and traffic recovered nicely.

Northbound Cedar Avenue was plugged up for a while from 140th Street up to I-35E. An accident around 7 a.m. was to blame.

A wreck around 7:40 a.m. on Hwy. 100 at Cedar Lake Road led to a brief tie-up for southbound drivers.

Noticeably missing was the noisewall work on eastbound 94 at Huron Blvd. With all lanes open, traffic sailed right along, unlike the past couple weeks when delays developed during the middle portion of the rush.