Compared to 2010, there was a lot less of this happening in Mpls last year.

Compared to 2010, Twin Cities commuters breathed a lot easier last year.

According to the 2011 U.S. Traffic Scorecard, Minneapolis (really, the Twin Cities metro) had the biggest decrease in traffic congestion from 2010 through 2011.

The scorecard uses traffic information from more than four million vehicles equipped with GPS devices in compiling the annual list of the most- and least-frustrating places to drive in America.

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The state patrol released this photo of Allen's hipster-looking mannequin passenger.

Tired of slogging through rush hour traffic, Eden Prairie resident Crystal Allen decided to get creative.

Why not ride with a mannequin and take advantage of I-35W's you-must-have-a-passenger-or-pay-a-toll MnPASS lane?

Her scheme worked out beautifully until yesterday, when Allen, 29, was pulled over at about 8:45 a.m. while heading northbound on I-35W at Highway 62. It didn't take an officer long to notice that Allen's backseat companion seemed a little less than lifelike.

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The westbound commute on I-94 is a hot, sticky mess this evening.

We knew it was going to be hot today, but we didn't know it was going to be hot enough to melt the highways.

Interstate 94 at Lowry Avenue literally buckled from the heat at about 1:30 p.m., prompting MnDOT to close the westbound lanes down to a single lane of traffic while work crews repair the roadway.

Check out these webcam shots of the congestion taken a little while ago. If you can find another route out of town, you'd best take it.

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Avoid driving Washington Avenue at the U from now on.

The train is coming, and you'd better get out of the way.

Sometime late Sunday afternoon, trucks are going to roll up Washington Avenue where it bisects the University of Minnesota campus and drop off a bunch of barricades. Work crews are going to maneuver them into position, and that's going to mark the end of an era: No more cars are going to be allowed on the thoroughfare between Pleasant and Walnut streets.

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Crosstown Commons: Not finished yet.

After four years, $288 million, 25 new bridges and six additional lanes of traffic, we thought we were through with the Crosstown reconstruction project. Traffic is sailing along. Commuters can concentrate on their cell phones and lattes again. It's finished, right?

Wrong.

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Federal funds grease the rails.

So it turns out the $478 million check really was in the mail.

We were a little leery last week when St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman used his State of the City address to declare federal funding had been approved to cover half the cost of the Central Corridor light rail project.

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The feds agree to help fund the Central Corridor line.

​The 11-mile Central Corridor light rail project has taken a major step forward. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman says the check is in the mail for the $460 million federal grant the project was banking on.

The Federal Transit Administration OK'd the grant and sent it to Congress for final approval in February--even as construction on the line was already under way.

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Look carefully. There's a bike messenger in there somewhere doing the backstroke.

Rumor has it that Smart Cars have been swallowed whole by the potholes in post-Snowmageddon Minneapolis this spring. Axles are snapping like toothpicks. Dry cleaners are overwhelmed by flustered commuters dropping off power suits stained by bouncing lattes in their SUVs.

So thank god the Minneapolis City Council has just approved an extra million bucks for the pothole repair war. The money effectively doubles to eight the number of crews working on the roads for the next seven weeks.

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Patience, people. Patience.

The Central Corridor light rail project forges ahead. Starting tomorrow, that means headaches for car commuters on I-35 downtown.

Starting Wednesday, the Fourth Street ramp near the Metrodome to southbound I-35W will close until July. The alternate route is the entrance ramp from eastbound Washington Avenue to southbound I-35W.

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KSTP

Reports are still coming in of the smell of natural gas throughout the area.

A large natural gas leak on the Central Corridor in St. Paul this morning resulted in street shut downs, building evacuations and over a thousand XCel Energy customers without a pilot light this afternoon.

While it did not reach the same proportions as the South Minneapolis fire ball incident last week, the smell of gas hung thickly in the air along University Avenue.

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