Transportation

Freeway closures, transit changes planned in Twin Cities this weekend

Signs marking road construction zones
Traffic cones block access to a freeway on-ramp during road construction in St. Paul on April 21.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News

A major freeway closure and transit service changes will make traveling in and near downtown Minneapolis more challenging this weekend.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is closing Interstate 35W in both directions between I-94 and Highway 280 from 10 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday — one of several freeway closures planned in the Twin Cities this weekend.

And Metro Transit says buses are replacing Blue and Green Line trains in downtown Minneapolis starting Friday and continuing through the weekend.

Freeway closures

MnDOT says the Interstate 35W closure near downtown Minneapolis is to allow crews to remove the Seventh and Eighth street bridge decks over the freeway near the Highway 55/Hiawatha Avenue interchange.

It's part of a larger, summer-long resurfacing and repair project along Hiawatha Avenue and its links to downtown.

Traffic on 35W will be detoured using Highway 280 and I-94.

Elsewhere in the Twin Cities metro area this weekend:

  • Southbound Interstate 494 will be closed between I-94 and Lake Road in Woodbury from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday as crews repair concrete.

  • Southbound Highway 77 will be closed between I-494 in Bloomington and Highway 13 in Eagan from 8 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday as crews work on a resurfacing project.

Transit changes

Metro Transit says this weekend's switch from light rail trains to buses in downtown Minneapolis is to allow crews to complete work on Hennepin Avenue, as well as make repairs to rails and pedestrian crossings.

The change from trains to buses is between Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium during the day Friday, then expanding a bit farther east to the Stadium Village station (Green Line) and Franklin Avenue station (Blue Line) from 7 p.m. Friday through the weekend.

Light rail service in downtown Minneapolis is set to resume by 4 a.m. Monday.