not particularly well designed to serve as a stop-gap alternative to
35W when driving to and from the north/northeast suburbs into
Minneapolis and returning. There are inadequate merge lanes for
traffic leaving and entering 280 from Hennepin/Larpenteur and from
Como Avenue. While traffic there isn't blocked off (while Broadway,
Roselawn and County Road B are), I'll predict both accidents and slow-
downs as the inter-city traffic relies increasingly on Hwy 280.
And for those who haven't driven on the Highway let me report that
the roadbed shows the effect of "patch and repair" when the roadbed
is subjected to a lot of traffic and a lot of heavy truck traffic.
It's bone-jarring now and will only worsen as time and traffic roll on.
There are limited alternatives available for those who need to get to
downtown Minneapolis or even South Minneapolis (from about 46th
north). But I think MN-DOT has to really work hard to shift "through
traffic" away from this alternative and increase the use of other
highways such as the I694-494 beltway, Highways 100 and 169, I-35E,
etc. And when the bridge on 35W is replaced, there will need to be
a massive overhaul for Hwy 280.