What started as a quite rush hour with damp roads turned into a major headache for drivers in the east metro around 7 a.m.
That is when a truck stalled in the left lane of southbound 35E at Maryland Avenue. It took nearly 45 minutes to move it out of the way. By then, gridlock conditions developed back to Little Canada Road and spilled onto westbound 694. A wreck in the backup at Wheelock Pkwy. complicated matters.
At this hour, well after the two incidents, traffic is still sluggish and creeping along from Little Canada Road to Maryland Avenue.
I-494 through Bloomington was a rat race during they 7 a.m. hour as crashes at East Bush Lake Road and Portland Avenue slowed traffic in both directions. Northbound Cedar Avenue drivers got caught in a snarl due to an accident at Diffley Road.
Currently you'll encounter minor delays on northbound 35W with crashes at 85th Street and 494 in Bloomington. Ahead in Minneapolis look for a crash at the I-94 interchange.
Two other crashes on the system at the moment include northbound 494 at Bass Lake Road and northbound 169 at Excelsior Blvd.
It seemed to be a good day for bus and train riders as no delays were reported this morning.
