Interstate 35W was definitely not the place to be Friday as four-vehicle crash in Roseville forced authorities to shut down the freeway around 6:30 a.m.
The State Patrol said two semitrailer trucks, a Metro Mobility bus and fourth vehicle collided in the northbound lane just before the Hwy. 36 split. No one was seriously injured, said Lt. Eric Roeske of the State Patrol.
Flames lept from one of the semi cabs and diesel fuel spilled over the highway. Authorities closed the freeway at Industrial Blvd. and as of 9 a.m. the road remained closed.
Southbound lanes were closed briefly, but were reopened around 7:50 a.m.
Earlier a semitrailer truck got hung up on a guardrail on southbound 35W at County Road 10 in Shoreview. That early mishap created near gridlock conditions for more than an hour until it was cleared after 7 a.m. Traffic backed up to Lexington Avenue.
In Monticello, a semi tipped over on westbound 94, leading to a 2-mile back up approaching Hwy. 25.
Elsewhere, commuters experienced few problems as other routes flowed smoothly and stayed incident and accident free.
