At last: the weave, unwoven

The days of the detour should be over around the Interstate 694-35E interchange, but at Jimmy's Food and Drink, the Detour Burger will remain as a lasting reminder.

Jimmy's owner, Jim Proulx, said the huge project had benefits and drawbacks.

"What you lose in one spot, you gain in the other way," he said. "They were detouring people that were maybe used to slip out across the bridge the other way. You miss some of the flow in there, but we picked up people, too."

Before a panorama of intersecting highway lanes and a soaring overpass, state officials atop the Labore Bridge on Thursday in Vadnais Heights declared the "Unweave the Weave" project a success.

Instead of cutting a ribbon, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel, and representatives of the cities of Little Canada and Vadnais Heights tugged free opposite ends of a knotted rope.

This fall, as workers complete some off-road grading and sign projects, officials hope drivers of the approximately 140,000 vehicles passing through each day will find a stretch of highway that's faster, safer and more efficient than it has been in the past.

The $140 million project transformed the interchange into a moonscape of dirt piles and construction equipment for much of the past four years, as workers labored to simplify the 3-mile stretch where the two highways run together and diverge.

Sue and Joe Fleming just opened E-LaBore Liquor on County Road E. in July. They said that since the Labore Bridge over I-694 opened at the end of August after being closed for 16 months, they've had some surprised new customers from the Little Canada side of the bridge.

"We had people come through here and say, 'How long have you been open?'" Joe Fleming said, laughing.

Proulx credited MnDot for keeping the lines of communication open, allowing him to give customers a heads-up about detours and traffic changes.

MnDoT's chief grading inspector on the project, Chris Anderson, has been involved since 2002, when it was in the planning and design stage. During a tour of the new interchange, he said he's been proud that traffic has flowed through the stretch during construction. In many ways, he added, traffic flowed more smoothly during the construction than it did before the work began.

Some things to notice as you pass through:

• Extra-wide shoulders will allow for additional lanes as traffic capacity beyond the interchange allows.

• Eight new highway bridges, including the "flyover" bridge, which moves traffic from northbound 35E to westbound 694. The 1,900-foot-long bridge is 25 feet tall at its highest point. At Edgerton Street and Labore Road, the city of Vadnais Heights pitched in to add sculpted detailing, designed by St. Paul sculptors Stanton Sears and Andrea Myklebust.

Chris Prigge of Woodbury and Joy Ruedy of Lino Lakes noted continued congestion at northbound 35E onto westbound 694.

"They did a nice job of fixing the mess that has been there for years," Prigge wrote in an e-mail to the Star Tribune. "Unfortunately, the traffic is a complete mess between 35E and 694 heading west until you get past Highway 10."

Anderson ruefully agreed. With his truck parked on the shoulder of 35E, he watched a van head onto the "flyover bridge" on the wrong side of the yellow line.

"Traffic is looking at a solution to tell people eastbound [traffic] has to be down there," he said, indicating the turnoff. "They're not sure how they're going to do that yet."

But now that major construction is done, he added, drivers can trust the signs. "If you read the signs, you'd know where you have to go," he said.

"That bridge is very wide, but only one lane," Ruedy wrote in an e-mail. "People actually drive on the left side of the yellow line because they're confused. Is it supposed to be two eventually?"

Eventually, MnDOT spokesman Kent Barnard said, the "flyover" bridge will take two lanes from northbound 35E to an expanded westbound 694. That's when the next project -- overhauling the highway to I-35W -- is completed.

Planning is underway for that project, Barnard said.