It's a somber situation on northbound 35W at Burnsville Pkwy. where a car and a motorcycle collided around 8:20 a.m. The State Patrol says one person is dead. It is not immediately clear if it is the motorcyclist.

MnDOT say the two left lanes of 35W will be shut down for the next couple of hours as a reconstruction team does its work. Traffic is getting by in the far right lane. Plan on a major backup which now begins at Crystal Lake Road.

The best advice is to use northbound 35E to Cedar Avenue if time is pressing. Once motorists pass the crash scene, the drive to downtown Minneapolis is 22 minutes.

Over in the east metro, a wreck on northbound 35E at Shepard Road had traffic tangled at Hwy. 110. The mishap occurred around 8:40 a.m. Things are starting to loosen.

Until the late rush hour drama, things had been quite tame. Only pockets of congestion slowed commuters.