The late rush hour saw a flurry of crashes that complicated the commute for south metro drivers. The worst was a fiery crash in the HOT lane on northbound 35W at Cliff Road. A vehicle towing a camper collided with a pickup truck and burst into flames, sending smoke drifting into the southbound lanes.
Two other fender benders in the immediate area added to the mess which had traffic stacked up at Burnsville Pkwy.
At the same time, a wreck on the Bloomington Ferry Bridge slowed traffic on northbound Hwy. 169 coming up from County Road 18.
In St. Paul, an accident on the right shoulder of southbound 35E at Maryland Avenue clogged traffic at Larpenteur Avenue.
East and southeast metro drivers sailed along without incident, but congestion on southbound 35E slowed northeast metro drivers.
Northbound 35W had the hiccups during the 7 a.m. hour from Crosstown to downtown Minneapolis. And a odd sight had a bicyclist riding in the HOT lane near 46th Street.
The northwest remained problem free, but southbound 169 had the case of the slow downs in the usual spot, Hwy. 610 to Hwy. 55. Southbound 100 lost speed during the 7 a.m. hour from I-94 to 394.
Eastbound 394 drivers had a few extra minutes in the car as congestion from 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. led to a 20-minute push. A crash at Dunwoody added to the delays.
