The big drama on the roads this morning occurred on southbound Hwy. 169 as police surrounded a vehicle and shut down both lanes for about 15 minutes.
Two people were arrested after a short pursuit that began about 7:30 a.m. on the northbound Bloomington Ferry Bridge. The driver turned around and was stopped on the southbound side of a bridge near Bren Road. MnDOT said it was a "high risk" stop as at one point a gun was displayed.
Traffic stacked up back to Medicine Lake Road. Both lanes reopened about 8:05 a.m. At this hour, the effects are still being felt as traffic crawls from Medicine Lake Road.
On a more cheerful note, southbound I-494 had its usual back up due to the road construction, but nothing like we've see all week. Drive times were must lower as congestion was pretty much confined to the area from Rockford Road to 394.
Drive times across the rest of the metro were quite reasonable as a lack of crashes kept things moving along. A couple mishaps involving school buses did slow traffic, one on Hwy. 212 at Hwy. 41 and another on westbound Crosstown at France Avenue. No injuries were reported in either crash.
I'll have your weekend traffic outlook a bit later this morning, so check back on the Drive blog for that. And, as usual, questions and comments about Twin Cities traffic are welcome at drive@startribune.com.