Busy Stretch Of I-35W Closes In Minneapolis For Weekend
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If you're planning on heading to downtown Minneapolis this weekend, you may want to double-check your route.
A major stretch of 35W is closing starting at 10 o'clock Friday night so that crews can begin tearing down the 38th Street bridge over that highway.
It's a sure sign spring is right around the corner, with construction projects picking up.
With a major stretch of 35W shutting down, it will cause a headache for many drivers this weekend
"We're going to need the weekend to knock the bridge down," Dave Aeikens with MnDOT said.
Construction crews were already hard at work Friday morning preparing the 38th Street bridge for demolition.
"It's been 56 years since we've been in here and done any work on this so we're rebuilding a lot of what's going on in here," Aeikens said.
As part of the project, 35W will be shut down between downtown and 62 going northbound.
The southbound lanes will be closed from downtown to 46th Street.
Drivers will be detoured along 394, Highway 100 and crosstown.
"What else can you do? You just live with it," Annie Asco said.
Asco lives in the north loop of Minneapolis.
She was filling her car up on gas ahead of the weekend at the station on 46th off of 35W before the closure.
"It is frustrating. It always, it adds time and it changes -- you have to rearrange your life for it, but what else can you do?" Asco said.
The project is part of a massive renovation of the 35W corridor that won't wrap up until 2021.
"People are going to want to plan ahead, give themselves lots of time. Our detours are on the website, check 511mn.org for real time updates," Aeikens said.
But in Minnesota, construction season is just part of life.
"I think sadly we just have to deal with it here. You live here, you gotta get used to road closures," Keith Jackson of Minneapolis said.
In order to complete this project, the ramp from 36th street to the freeway will also shut down and will be closed for the next three years.
Again the stretch of 35 will close at 10 Friday night, and reopen at 5 a.m. Monday.