The commute for northwest metro drivers was one for the birds, as in turkeys that spilled from an overturned big rig on the ramp from northbound 494 to eastbound 694 in Maple Grove.

The ramp is expected to be closed until 10 a.m. as crews continue to clean up the mess. The truck rolled over at 4:30 a.m. Motorists were directed to westbound 94, and that caused a ramp jam at Weaver Lake Road as drivers used that ramp to turn around to go east.

That extra traffic along with a gawker slow down created delays on eastbound 94 for much of the rush, with traffic coming to a grind at 101st Avenue.

Both directions of 35W between the Crosstown and downtown Minneapolis jammed around 7:30 a.m. when a wreck on the Crosstown at Portland Avenue tied up traffic. The ramp jam from southbound 35W to eastbound Crosstown led to delays of 10 minutes for southbound 35W drivers, while northbound suffered due to a wreck at 26th Street.

Traffic around the University of Minnesota moved reasonably well, but westbound 94 did it's normal plug up routine from White Bear Avenue into downtown St. Paul. Eastbound 94 moved slow from Olson Hwy. to Hwy. 280. A new wreck blocking the center lane of westbound 94 at Jackson Street in St. Paul is tangling traffic at this hour.

Elsewhere across the system, no major delays developed, but there was enough congestion to bog down traffic on northbound 35W through Burnsville in the south metro.

Transit operators didn't report any delays or issues on Tuesday, the first day of school for public school students in most districts.