An early morning car fire in southbound I-35 just north of the Forest Lake split created a 3-mile back up around 6 a.m., but that was about it for trouble on the roads Friday morning. The commute was about as smooth as a January day could give us as roads were in good shape and traffic moved along with few issues.
One thing to look out for is some midday road work on westbound 494 at Pilot Knob Road. The left lane is closed. Another is that the ramp from westbound I-94 to 5th Street in Minneapolis is closed.
Here are some current travel times:
North metro
Southbound 35W from 95th Avenue to downtown Minneapolis: 15 minutes
Southbound 35E from County 96 to I-94: 10 minutes.
Eastbound Hwy. 10 from Hwy. 169 to 35W: 12 minutes
Westbound 694 from 35E to Hwy. 252: 10 minutes. Eastbound is 10 minutes.