Weekend traffic: I-35W flyover bridge is coming down in Minneapolis; three-year closure in store

Those who attended Friday's mega Christian music concert at U.S. Bank Stadium may have been shouting "Hallelujahs," but weekend drivers likely won't be.

In addition to the third straight weekend closure of Interstate 94 in downtown Minneapolis, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will demolish the flyover bridge from northbound Interstate 35W to westbound Interstate 94.

While the bridge is taken down, access to the downtown exits of 5th Avenue and Grant Street will be closed. Outbound exits from downtown to southbound I-35W at 12th Street and 4th Avenue also will be closed. Once the bridge is gone, it will take three years to rebuild, so the 24,000 motorists who use it each day will have to adapt just like last summer when the same ramp was closed for 70 days while MnDOT redid the Lowry Hill tunnel.

Expect extra traffic around Target Field, where the Twins host the rival Milwaukee Brewers Friday through Sunday, and Target Center, where the Lynx open their season Sunday at 4 p.m. The same will be true in northeast Minneapolis, home of the annual Art-A-Whirl open studio tour.

1. Interstate 94: Closed until 5 a.m. Monday between Hwy. 55 and I-35W. Hennepin/Lyndale Avenue will also close from Dunwoody Boulevard to Oak Street. Nearby, westbound I-94 ramp to 11th Street also closed. Ramps from eastbound I-394 to westbound I-94 and the ramp from northbound Lyndale Avenue to westbound I-94 closed.

2. Downtown exits on and off I-35W: Northbound ramp to westbound I-94 closed until 5 a.m. Monday. Exits to southbound I-35 at 12th Street and 4th Avenue S. also closed.

3. Franklin Avenue: Bridge is closed over I-35W through at least midsummer.

5. University Avenue: Closed between Lowry Avenue NE. and 44th Avenue NE. in Columbia Heights.

6. Crosstown Hwy. 62: Westbound reduced to a single lane at 34th Avenue.

7. Wabasha Street: Closed from Plato Boulevard to Cesar Chavez Street due to a rock slide.

8. Snelling Avenue: Lane restrictions between Randolph Avenue and Ford Parkway.

9. Hwy. 149/Smith Avenue: The High Bridge over the Mississippi River is closed until December.

11. Hwy. 10 in Elk River: Eastbound reduced to one lane and westbound to two lanes, and sometimes one lane, between Joplin Street and Upland Avenue. Periodic lane closures in both directions from Hwy. 101 to Thurston Avenue.

12. Hwy. 169 in Champlin: Single-lane traffic in both directions between Hwy. 610 and East Hayden Lake Road.

13. Hwy. 50 in Farmington: Single lane between Hwys. 3 and 52. Flagging operations will occur between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily through late August.

14. 66th Street in Richfield: Closed to through traffic between Girard and Xerxes avenues S. The project extends from Xerxes Avenue on the west end to 16th Avenue South on the east end.

15. Hwy. 3 in Inver Grove Heights: Closed in both directions between Rich Valley Boulevard and Hwy. 55.