Highway closures, sports traffic top Twin Cities weekend road woes
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Mix together construction closures on Interstate 94 and Interstate 494 with Twins, Vikings and Minnesota United games and you’ve got a recipe for some still life on Twin Cities roads this weekend.
Traveling from Minneapolis to St. Paul will be a pain as the Minnesota Department of Transportation shuts a key stretch of eastbound I-94. Also watch out for an I-494 shutdown in the south metro.
Check MnDOT’s weekend traffic maps for the full list of closures in the Twin Cities and across Minnesota.
Here are the basics:
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Sports
The Twins take on Cleveland this weekend in games vital to their playoff position. Minnesota United plays a match Saturday at Allianz Field in St. Paul and the Vikings play Atlanta Sunday at noon at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, kicking off the new season.
If that weren’t enough, St. Paul is also hosting the Red Bull Flugtag of unusual flying machines Saturday on the Mississippi River.
Collectively, it means tens of thousands of people trying to make their way across the Twin Cities with two crucial highway stretches out of commission.
I-94 eastbound
This will not be pretty.
Starting Friday night at 10 p.m., eastbound I-94 closes between Minnesota Highway 280 and Western Avenue until 5 a.m. Monday.
MnDOT’s telling drivers to detour north on Highway 280 to eastbound Minnesota Highway 36 and then south Interstate 35E.
I-494, South St. Paul to Eagan
This will be the other big, bad closure.
Starting Friday night at 9 p.m., I-494 is closed in both directions between I-35E in Mendota Heights and Minnesota Highway 5 in Bloomington through 5 a.m. Monday.
The detour? I-35E and Minnesota Highway 77/Cedar Avenue.
There are also a bunch of lane and ramp closures.
One bright spot this weekend? MnDOT on Friday morning said it canceled a planned weekend closure of Interstate 35W south from I-94 to Highway 62. Crews were able to finish the work on Friday morning, and I-35W will be open.