Construction brings metro commute headaches

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A new work-week means new headaches for metro area motorists on the freeway system.

Construction season is shifting into high gear as the month of May continues.

One MnDOT project that is seeing lots of slow-downs is I-94 between downtown Minneapolis and Shingle Creek Parkway in Brooklyn Center.

Highway 252 south to I-94 east is now closed for two months.

Also closed is the busy I-94 eastbound ramp to 394 west.

“We’ve got people out driving around looking at traffic patterns, seeing what’s going on, typically takes a week or two to kind of see where cars go and how patterns develop,” said Dave Aeikens, MnDOT spokesman. “We’ll make changes depending on how things settle in.”

Once the I-94 project is finished, MnDOT will have repaired 50 bridges between Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center.

The project will also include some major work in the Lowry Hill Tunnel, but the metro won’t see those slow-downs and closures for another month-and-a-half.