Anyone who tried to head north on 35W through Bloomington late Monday afternoon now knows why it was stopped. A 3-vehicle crash near West 82nd Street on Oct. 12 hurt 3 drivers, and 1 of them was seriously injured. The northbound lanes were closed for more than an hour during rush hour.
Bloomington Fire was on scene shortly after 4:30 p.m. At 4:45 p.m. the department posted that the serious injury crash was "causing significant delays on 35W northbound near West 82nd St." and told drivers to avoid 35W in Bloomington "for the next couple hours."
According to the Minnesota State Patrol's incident report, a 78-year-old man driving a Ford F-150 got on at the 82nd Street ramp just before 4 p.m. He was heading south in the northbound lanes. He then hit a Honda Civic driven by a 32-year-old woman and an Acura RDX driven by a 24-year-old woman.
The State Patrol said all 3 drivers were hurt. 2 were taken to Hennepin Healthcare, and 1 has serious injuries. The patrol hasn't said publicly which driver was the most badly hurt. The incident report said more detailed injury information was expected Tuesday morning.
Investigators kept the northbound lanes closed while they worked the scene, and the freeway fully reopened just before 6 p.m. That was quicker than the couple of hours Bloomington Fire had warned about, though it still caught plenty of the evening commute.
Authorities have not said what led the F-150 driver onto the ramp in the wrong direction, and the patrol hasn't announced any charges. We'll update this story when the State Patrol releases more.
