The state's 2011 road construction program was announced today, and there are 258 projects scheduled to improve traffic conditions in the long term while slowing down those summer road trips.

But the $900 million worth of road and bridge work will provide thousands of jobs, said Gov. Mark Dayton at a formal kick-off for the program today.

Two of the biggies:

• Highway 169/Interstate 494 interchange in the Twin Cities.
• Bridge and pavement replacement on a section of I-35 in Duluth.

The entire list of projects — useful for detour planning — is up on the Department of Transportation website. Lots o' dots on those maps.

MDOT lists more major projects:

Twin Cities:

• Rebuilding the Hwy. 52 Lafayette Bridge in St. Paul.
• Continuing to resurface I-94 between St. Paul and Minneapolis.
• Constructing a new interchange at Hwys. 101 and 13 in Savage.
• Reconstructing the Hwy. 36 and Rice Street interchange and replacing the Rice Street bridge in Roseville/Little Canada.

 Projects in Greater Minnesota include:

• Resurfacing Hwy. 34 from Park Rapids to Akeley, including installing turn lanes and replacing culverts.
• Constructing four lanes on Hwy. 23 east of St. Cloud to Foley.
• Replacing three bridges and resurfacing Highway 9 from the Norman/Clay county line to Hwy. 10.
• Constructing a four-lane expansion, including bridges, on Hwy. 14 by Waseca.

And transportation officials remind us to plan ahead for congestion and to drive carefully in work zones because fines double.