GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- If you thought you had to navigate more road construction projects this weekend, you were right. MnDOT officials say we're in the thick of it and crews tried to take advantage of a pseudo-holiday weekend.
"We're like farmers out there, we have to make hay, or in this case, make roads when the sun shines," MnDOT's Kent Barnard told KARE 11. Several projects throughout the metro were slowing down drivers, including: Highway 13 in Burnsville and Savage, Hennepin/Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis, 694 in Oakdale and Maplewood, and 494/169 in Eden Prairie/Edina/Bloomington.
"You've just got to time it right, but just coming through Bloomington is always bad anyways," motorist Hank Schovanec said. Schovanec lives in Burnsville and works in Golden Valley. He also has a cabin up north, so he hits major construction at 494/169, Highway 13, and I-35 between Minneapolis and Duluth.
Each and every one of them were very activity with construction crews this weekend.
Another huge project that sent drivers shuffling a little bit was at Central and Hennepin in Northeast Minneapolis, where one of the city's busiest intersections was shut down as crews repaved the state highway intersection.
Barnard says drivers need to practice patience and remain cautious for the coming months. "You may have narrower lanes, you may have entrance or exit ramps that had to be modified to get traffic through, you may have some that are closed that you were expecting to remain open," he warned.
Schovanc says it'll be a pain, but he's looking forward to the reward. "It's good that the government's fixing up these roads, they need it," he concluded.
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