The Friday rush hour got off to a tragic start in Mendota Heights where a motorist heading east on Hwy. 55 crossed the center line and hit a westbound driver head-on. One person was killed and one other was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries, the State Patrol said.
Fog hampered the drive into the metro for those commuting in from Wisconsin on westbound 94. That led to 20-minute drives from Hudson to St. Paul early in the rush.
Later, a trio of mishaps on I-94 slowed traffic in both directions between the downtowns. Westbound drivers got caught in a snag near Snelling Avenue where two lanes were blocked by fire rigs around 7 a.m. Eastbound drivers were delayed from Hwy. 280 to Prior Avenue due to a three-vehicle wreck there.
Great road conditions helped keep traffic flowing well in most other places, but as always, there were the typical start and stop conditions on eastbound 394, I-35 in both directions heading into downtown Minneapolis and routes heading into downtown St. Paul.
Drive times were reasonable and the sun even came out. Let's make it a good weekend, and don't forget about the big road construction projects and related closures. I've listed them on my blog. They include I-94 in St. Paul and the Crosstown in Edina.
