Wednesday's rush hour was more like the crawl hour, especially on eastbound 94 from Albertville to the Fish Lake Interchange in Maple Grove. A semitrailer truck crash in the center lane at Weaver Lake Road just after 6 a.m. tangled traffic immediately with a backup to 101st Avenue.
Even after it was moved to the right shoulder, traffic jammed west of the Crow River and congestion did not loosen until late in the morning.
A fiery wreck about the same time on southbound 35W closed two lanes at 102nd Street. The traffic problems, however, were due to rubbernecking on the northbound side. Traffic knotted up from County Road 42 past the scene and again from Crosstown to downtown Minneapolis. At the peak, trip times were close to 40 minutes.
Elsewhere it was simple congestion that bogged down the drive. Super slow spots included westbound 694 from 35E to Hwy. 252. By 8 a.m., crashes ceased and congestion started to loosen all across the city.
Blue Line trains were delayed up to 10 minutes for northbound runs and 15 minutes for southbound runs when a car collided with a train at Terminal 2 at MSP Airport. Service was restored and back to normal within about 30 minutes.
