Thursday's morning rush got off to a chaotic start with crashes on I-94 in St. Paul and police activity on I-35W in downtown Minneapolis.
The incident in Minneapolis unfolded just after 6 a.m. when law enforcement converged on a vehicle found parked on the shoulder of southbound 35W on the Mississippi River bridge. A search for the driver commenced and there were reports that boats were launched to look for a man that might have landed in the river. No word yet if anybody has been found.
The incident had the right lane blocked for about 2 hours, and in turn caused traffic to stack up as far back as Hwy. 280. The forlorn vehicle was loaded up about 8:15 a.m. and traffic slowly got back to normal. At present, things are running at posted speeds.
Over in St. Paul, a stall in the center lane of I-94 at Mounds Blvd. and a subsequent wreck at White Bear Avenue kept westbound traffic tight during the 7 to 8 a.m. time period. After that, trip times from 694 to downtown St. Paul averaged the usual 10 to 12 minutes.
Elsewhere across the system, problems were few and commuters sailed along.
I'll be back Friday with more live traffic reports. As always, questions and comments on Twin Cities traffic welcome at drive@startribune.com.
