Cops stop bicyclist riding among cars on I-694

Updated: 2:40 p.m. | Posted: 7:03 a.m.

Police stopped a bicyclist riding on westbound Interstate 694 in New Brighton this morning, sometimes amid the cars making their way through the early morning commute.

The cyclist was spotted on traffic cameras shortly after 6 a.m., crossing over Interstate 35W headed for Minneapolis, with cars streaming around him. Lt. Tiffani Nielson, spokesperson for the State Patrol, says a trooper pulled the cyclist over and directed him to get off the freeway at a nearby exit, on Long Lake Road.

"The trooper just directed him off the freeway, explained the law and got him on his way," Nielson said. "He claimed to not know, and there wasn't anything really suspicious about the behavior that would lead her to believe that it was anything where it was a pattern or habit."

This is the third time this summer that officials have found bicyclists on Twin Cities interstates heading into the morning rush hours. It's against the law to ride bicycles on limited access roads like interstates.