Road work is springing up across the metro

Daffodils are not popping up yet, but orange cones and Road Closed signs are, meaning the construction season is beginning to bloom. A number of projects that will bring delays and detours for motorists bicyclists begin this week. Here is a sampler:

St. Paul

Work on the new I-35E MnPASS lane and bridges over the freeway at Arlington Avenue and Wheelock Pkwy. continues, and this week will bring lane shifts ahead of even more construction in June. Crews will be placing new barriers and laying down pavement during overnight hours, meaning motorists will experience lane closures between the Cayuga Bridge and roughly Hwy. 36. At times between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., traffic will be a single lane.

Associated projects include the closure of the intersection of Arlington Avenue and Mississippi Street. Drivers will be detoured to Westminster Street and westbound Hoyt Avenue to access Mississippi Street.

The east side of the Arlington Avenue and L'Orient Street intersection also will be closed. Traffic will be detoured to northbound Jackson Street to eastbound Wheelock Pkwy. and back to L'Orient. The restrictions will be in effect until May 11.

Starting Wednesday, Mississippi Street will close between Phalen Blvd. and University Avenue. The detour will take motorists to University Avenue and Olive Street.

Also closing Wednesday is the intersection of Cayuga Street and Westminster Street. The detour will be via E. Old Cayuga Street and Arkwright Street. Access to businesses will be maintained.

Minneapolis

Construction on the Interchange, the new central, multi-modal transportation hub and community gathering space in near Target Field in downtown Minneapolis, 5th Street between 3rd and 6th Avenues N. will be closed Monday through May 2.

This also will affect passengers who normally board the Blue Line at Target Field Station. Pedestrian access will be open during events at the stadium. Access to the Northstar Commuter line will not be affected, and Northstar riders will be able to transfer to Blue Line trains.

Utility work along LaSalle Avenue between 8th and 12th Streets will force bicyclist and vehicles to share lanes for much of the 2014 construction season. The City of Minneapolis also says that traffic on cross streets could be affected. CenterPoint Energy says motroists should anticipate traffic disruptions.

Things are about to get noisy on 2nd Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. CenterPoint Energy is beginning to replace the Metro Belt Line Transmission Pipeline. Construction will eventually stretch to 26th Avenue N.

If you drive over the Mississippi River Bridge on Hwy. 61, you probably noticed the highway is down to a single lane between the river and Hwy. 10. Get used to that configuration until the end of May. MnDOT is starting work on the median barrier north of the bridge that it could not finish last year when the new Hastings Bridge opened. Landscaping also will be completed this year, as will the public plaza under the overpass and parking spaces, the agency said.

Monticello

It's a bit outside the metro, but thousands of commuters pass by the intersection of I-94 and Hwy. 25 where preliminary work for a major reconstruction project kicks off.

The most noticible impact will come in the form of lane closures seven days a week during non-rush hour times. Crews will be constructing a temporary cross over lane ahead of the $17.2 million project that is scheduled to start in May.

The I-94 Monticello Reconstruction Project includes: