It was an agonizing commute for drivers on eastbound 94 from Albertville to the Fish Lake Interchange in Maple Grove all morning long. Snow, slush and a couple spinouts early tangled traffic and things did not improve. At the worst, the drive was taking up to 45 minutes. At present we are looking at 25 minutes.
Westbound 94 was also problematic with at least three separate crashes in the vicinity of Hwy. 101.
Commuters on 494 through Maple Grove and Plymouth idled their way from the Fish Lake Interchange down to 394. Spinouts near Bass Lake Road on the northbound side and one southbound at Hwy. 55 set the brakes in place and that had some trips between 94 and 394 taking up to 30 minutes. It's better now, with only 11 minutes in both directions.
The Crosstown was another spot that saw major delays, especially westbound between Hiawatha Avenue and Hwy. 100. Eastbound drivers suffered through slower-than-normal traffic, but it was not as bad as it was during some of our earlier winter snow storms.
The usual congestion clogged traffic on 494 in Bloomington while Cedar Avenue saw delays between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.
On a better note, transit services ran on time.
I'll be back tomorrow with more live traffic reports. As always, questions about Twin Cities traffic are welcome at drive@startribune.com
