The heavily traveled ramp from east Interstate 394 to east I-94 in downtown Minneapolis will close Sunday night, not Monday night, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said Friday.
On Thursday, the agency said the ramp would close for two weeks and that the closure would be in place for the Tuesday morning rush hour. That led to a front-page story in Friday's Star Tribune, and the late-Monday closing also was prominently featured by other local news outlets.
That was wrong, said MnDOT spokesman David Aeikens. "It was a communications error," he said.
The ramp will be closed for two weeks and reopen Aug. 28.
Its shutdown is part of a summerlong project along I-94 spanning 9 miles between Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis and the Hwy. 252 interchange in Brooklyn Center. MnDOT is repairing more than 50 bridges and repaving and rehabilitating the freeway, which was constructed in the 1980s.
The prescribed rerouting will send motorists on a long detour south on Hwy. 100, east on the Crosstown and north on I-35W.
A few drivers have asked if the ramp closure will affect their ability to get into downtown Minneapolis and use I-394 exits such as those at 12th Street, 6th Street, 4th Street and Washington Avenue. The answer is no. Those ramps will remain open.
