Weekend Twin Cities traffic woes mix in a little hope, cheaper gas

Labor Day weekend road work
Labor Day weekend road work
MN Department of Transportation

Twin Cities drivers will find lane closures and assorted hassles on the roads this weekend, although it's better than past weeks. And there's also a little good news for those driving Minnesota Highway 5.

Highway 5 over the Mississippi River — a traffic choke point into St. Paul the past few months as crews reconstruct the bridge deck — will reopen to four lanes starting at 7 p.m. tonight.

Here's the Minnesota Department of Transportation's look at projects that may cause delays the next few days.

• I-35E in St. Paul and Little Canada. The ramp from southbound I-35E to southbound Minnesota Highway 52 is closed through November 2015. The closure is now part of the I-35E Corridor project. There are many lane and ramp closures in the area.

• Interstate 35W at County Road 96 in Arden Hills. The ramp from northbound I-35W to County Road 96 and the ramp from County Road 96 to southbound I-35W are closed until October. County Road 96 is a single lane in each direction across the interstate.

• U.S. Highway 169 in Jordan. Highway 169 between Minnesota Highways 21 and 282 is reduced to a single lane with a speed limit of 45 mph through late October.

Also, the website TwinCitiesGasPrices.com reports regular unleaded gas prices averaging $2.38 a gallon around the metropolitan area with some stations offering gas at less than $2.20. A year ago, gas was averaging $3.31 a gallon.

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