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Commuters Headed for Work Early, Some Delayed By Late Rush Hour Crash

Posted on: Saturday, 3 June 2006, 00:00 CDT

By Lee Egerstrom, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

May 25--Westbound traffic on Interstate 94 was stacked up from Snelling Avenue to near Rice Street in St. Paul behind a crash today, just when the morning commute was supposed to be coming to an end.

That accident occurred at 8:31 a.m., by Minnesota Department of Transportation calculations. It still had traffic in a snarl well after 9 a.m., when MnDOT thought the accident would be cleared. Traffic was back to normal by 10 a.m.

Commuters got a head start on the dash to work today, the last day of near-normal work schedules before people begin heading out of the Twin Cities to extend the Memorial Day weekend.

Heavier than normal traffic was evident on MnDOT freeway cameras beginning at 6 a.m. A crash on Interstate 94 at the Interstate 494 intersection at about 5:30 a.m. on the northwest edge of the Twin Cities had traffic stacked up into the distant suburbs.

That crash was cleared by 6:30 a.m., but the traffic delay didn't improve as more cars added to the congestion.

The jumpstart by early commuters didn't help traffic flows as the morning rush continued. A crash on Interstate 35E at Dakota County Road 42 at 7:50 a.m. was expected to interfere with northbound traffic until nearly 8:30 a.m. or longer.

The usual assortment of stalls along major roadway may be contributing to traffic flows slower than normal freeway speeds. But it was traffic volume, not vehicle problems that caused the slowdown as people tried to get a head start on work and the holiday weekend.

Stalls on Interstate 35E at Maryland Avenue and on I-94 at Western Avenue in St. Paul were not blocking traffic lanes, but traffic through the St. Paul freeway corridors was slow and congested throughout the morning commute.

Lee Egerstrom can be reached at legerstrom@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5437.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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