Jan 9, 2008 5:50 pm US/Central
Frustrated Drivers Maneuver Through Tanker Detours
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Lunch hour looked more like rush hour on downtown streets near the rollover.
CBS
Traffic was still backed up as motorists tried to get home during rush hour on the freeway near the Basilica and Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis. Things have been a mess all day because of an oil tanker rolling over on the Hennepin-Lyndale ramp to northbound I-94.
What made it even worse was many motorist didn't even know why they were being rerouted.
Lunch hour looked more like rush hour on downtown streets near the rollover.
"Horrible. I can't reach my destination where I need to go," said a frustrated repairman. "I don't know. I'm gonna park somewhere, look at my map book, see if there's some back way in."
Frustrated motorists felt like they were driving around in circles.
"It's slow. I was going to go on 394 to go home. Now I'm going to circle around on 35W so it's kid of slow right now," said a motorist waiting in traffic.
"I came to the bridge, had to go around, come back all the way around downtown. This is my third attempt to get through," said a waiting driver.
Closed lanes on one of the Twin Cities busiest freeway interchanges clogged nearly ever alternate route.
"It's pretty bad. Like highway 55 was pretty packed all the way up into downtown," said on commuter.
"It's just getting back up everywhere. All the back roads, everything. To the exits to 394. I'm trying to get to Dunwoody," said a Dunwoody student.
While driver waited in bumper to bumper traffic, cell phone lines were jammed with explanations as to why they were late.
"It's really bad. I work out in Eden Prairie so I just get on 394 and go west and get on 169. So now I have to 35W," said a tardy worker.
As bad as it was, it could have been much worse. Earlier today MnDOT warned that the freeways may be closed through rush hour, which could have been a nightmare.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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