Weekend traffic: Hwy. 36 closure, Xerxes bridge opening and big festivals

Meteorologist Paul Douglas says the it could be soggy weekend but there is plenty of reason to celebrate. The Twin Cities Pride Festival takes place in downtown Minneapolis and music will emanate throughout downtown St. Paul as the Twin Cities Jazz Festival continues through Saturday.

The Lynx play the Seattle Storm at Target Center in Minneapolis at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Meanwhile the Xerxes Avenue bridge over the Crosstown reopens while a road project will put some east metro drivers on detour. Flooding also has major river crossings still closed, see below.

Pride Festival

Look for lots of extra traffic and pedestrians in the vicinity of Loring Park where the annual celebration takes place Friday through Sunday. The main traffic impact will be the closure of Hennepin Avenue between Spruce Street and 3rd Street Sunday for the Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade at 11 a.m.

Several Metro Transit bus routes will be on detour Sunday morning into the afternoon. They include Routes 7, 9 14, 18, 19, 22, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 675. Here are the details.

Twin Cities Jazz Festival

Xerxes Avenue bridge

After two months of construction, the new Xerxes Avenue bridge over the Crosstown will open to traffic at 10 a.m. Saturday. Ramps to and from the Crosstown also will reopen to traffic. Here is what MnDOT has accomplshed:
• Removed and replaced the bridge deck, panels and approaches
• Replaced bridge rails
• Upgraded pedestrian crossings at ramp intersections to meet modern accessibility standards

Hwy. 36 closure

Beginning at 9 p.m. Friday, both directions of Hwy. 36 between Rice Street and Hwy. 61 will go down to a single lane and all lanes will close at 10 p.m. The closure will be in effect until 5 a.m. Monday.

These ramps also will be closed at 9 p.m. Friday:

Further to the east, Hwy. 36 remains a single lane in each direction from Washington Avenue in Oak Park Heights to Hwy. 95 in Stillwater. That's due to the St. Croix Crossing project.

I-35E road work

Construction on the new MnPASS lane and resurfacing continues between Little Canada Road and Maryland Avenue through Maplewood and St. Paul. The freeway is reduced to two lanes. Ramps at Roselawn and Larpenteur Avenue are closed.

Hwy. 52 in St. Paul

Work on the Lafayette Bridge will have traffic reduced to a single lane in each direction between W. 7th Street/I-94 and Plato Blvd. That will be in place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

A repaving project will bring rolling lane closures between Cokato and Delano. Most of the closures will take place during off-peak hours, but MnDOT says delays could run from 10 to 20 minutes at a time.

I-494 in Newport

Repaving operations will be in progress Friday through Monday at 5 a.m. on I-494 in Newport. The freeway in both directions will be reduced to two lanes over the Wakota Bridge between Maxwell Avenue and Hardman Avenue.

Hwy. 169 in Edina, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie

The reconstruction project has another week to go on southbound Hwy. 169 from Bren Road to Valley View Road. Motorists traveling southbound on Hwy 169 will be detoured to Hwy 212 and 494. Southbound Hwy 169 from 394 to Bren Road will be open to local traffic only. Suggested routes include using Hwy. 100 and 494. MnDOT says this project should be done by Monday, weather permitting.

A number of roads in St. Paul and along the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers remain closed due to flooding. Here a some of the major impacts:

Hwy. 61 in White Bear Lake

A repaving project has the highway single lane between Hwy. 96 and White Bear Avenue. This has been going on for a while and will be with us for the next few months.

Minneapolis Parkways