Tuesday's drive to work had its low spots for sure with the latest a five-car pile-up on southbound I-35E at Larpenteur Avenue. This crash in the left lane in the work zone has traffic stacking up to Little Canada Road.
The 7 to 8 a.m. hour brought out a number of wrecks that brought traffic to its knees, especially on eastbound Crosstown from Shady Oak Road to Hwy. 100. Westbound also crept along from Cedar Avenue to Hwy. 169 even though that stretch was crash free.
Potholes deflated lots of tires on northbound Hwy. 100 in the area of Excelsior Blvd. At least four drivers had to call for tow trucks.
An early crash on westbound 694 at Hwy. 252 blocked the center lane for a while, at least long enough to tangle traffic as far back as I-35E. At the peak of the delays, that trip was taking 28 minutes. Things have returned to normal at this hour with just 12 minutes needed.
Other hot spots included southbound Hwy. 169 from Hwy. 610 to Hwy. 7 and southbound Hwy. 100 near from 394 to 50th Street. Crashes on both routes have cleared, but expect some tight conditions, especially on Hwy. 100 from Duluth Street to Hwy. 7.
Light rail service was temporarily halted around 6 a.m. after a person walked into the tunnel between Fort Snelling station and the MSP Airport. Blue Line train service was back to normal by 6:45 a.m., a Metro Transit spokesman said.
