The crash action started early with a wreck on southbound 494 at Valley Creek Road in Woodbury and that set the tone for the Wednesday commute.
Drivers in the south and east metro had it the worst as road construction and a tanker vs. car crash on the Mendota Bridge snarled traffic on westbound Hwy. 55 and westbound Hwy. 110 through Eagan and Mendota Heights. The wreck cleared fast, but not before a big backup developed. That has yet to loosen, so expected delays for quite some time.
Commuters on westbound 94 got caught in a five-mile back that that followed a crash around 7 a.m. at Manning Avenue. The left lane was out of commission for nearly an hour and the delays began across the St. Croix River into Wisconsin. That made for a 30-minute drive into St. Paul. At this hour, things have loosened quite a bit with a pocket of slow traffic from Johnson Pkwy. to 35E.
The intersection of 694 and Century Avenue was problematic today with three separate crashes in the vicinity. All cleared fairly quickly, but they were enough to gum up traffic, especially for westbound drivers.
Westbound 494 drivers were held up during the middle of the rush when a semi and car collided at Delaware Avenue. That plugged up traffic as far back as Bailey Road. At present traffic is getting back up to speed.
In Eden Prairie, a three-car crash on eastbound Hwy. 212 at Dell Road caused a short set back for west metro drivers. That wreck occured at 7:15 a.m.
That's it for today. I'll be back Thursday with more live traffic reports and news. As always, drive@startribune.com is open to take your questions and comments.
