A car ran over two road construction workers along the shoulder of Interstate 35W in Burnsville early Thursday afternoon, leaving one of the men dead and the other seriously injured, authorities said.

Traffic on northbound 35W, where the crash occurred, has been halted, while the southbound side was running slower than normal.

The crash happened shortly after 12:35 p.m. north of the County Road 42 exit, according to the State Patrol. Also closed is the ramp from County Road 42 to northbound 35W.

The 21-year-old driver of the car from Missouri was not hurt and was cooperarting with investigators, the patrol said. Authorities have yet to say why the car left the interstate.

According to the State Patrol:

The car veered to the right and struck the two contract employees as they did electrical work associated with expansion of the MnPASS carpool system.

One of the workers was dead at the scene. The other was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center. Their identities have yet to be released.

The two were working for Egan Co. at the time, located in Brooklyn Park.

Egan Vice President Dawn Hofstrand said that her company has “a very good safety record. We’re just trying to get all of the information.”

A car with Missouri plates was off on the side of the road, with a white sheet on the ground nearby. Also nearby below the McAndrews Road overpass was a damaged road sign.

The fate of the driver was not immediately known.

The construction zone involves extension of the MnPASS carpool lanes.

The worker who was killed was employed by a private contractor, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The employer of the injured workers was not immediately known.

Two weeks ago, a car hit and slightly injured two construction workers in St. Paul on the ramp from southbound Hwy. 280 to westbound Interstate 94. The driver fled on foot and left behind two banged-up passengers and a loaded pistol.

Minnesota had more than 1,900 work zone crashes last year. That’s up from nearly 1,800 in 2009.

Six people were killed on Minnesota roads in four separate crashes on Saturday:

• A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of County Road 40 and County Road 5 west of New London, left two dead and two injured, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said. One person was flown to a Twin Cities hospital and another was taken to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

No other details were released.

• Three vehicles collided in Goodhue County, killing two men and injuring a third. That crash happened about 7:30 p.m. near Hwy. 52 and County Road 9.

The State Patrol was investigating and had no further details.

• A 37-year-old man died early Saturday when his pickup truck went off the road on Hwy. 169 on Minnesota’s Iron Range, the patrol reported.

The pickup was heading south on the wet highway about 3 miles south of Keewatin shortly after 2:30 a.m. when it went into the ditch and rolled over. The truck’s driver was thrown from the vehicle and the man died at the scene.

A passenger in the truck was taken to University Medical Center-Mesabi in Hibbing. The passenger’s condition was unknown.

Their names have not been released.

• Another one-vehicle fatality occurred shortly before 9 a.m. in Faribault, the patrol reported. A southbound car went off Lyndale Avenue near Division Street and hit a metal power pole, killing the driver.

His name wasn’t released.

AVON, Minn. (AP) – One person has died and another has been critically injured in a collision between a motorcycle and a deer in Stearns County.

The sheriff’s department says 47-year-old passenger, Laura Ann Tenvoorde-Behrend, was killed the motorcycle hit a deer about 8 p.m. Wednesday in Avon Township.

The driver, 49-year-old David Behrend, was injured and taken to St. Cloud Hospital where a spokeswoman says he is in critical condition.

A car hit and injured two construction workers in St. Paul early Thursday, and the driver fled on foot and left behind two banged-up passengers and a loaded pistol, authorities said.

The crash happened about 12:30 a.m. on the ramp from southbound Hwy. 280 to westbound Interstate 94, according to the State Patrol.

The car hit a trash container and then a water truck in the construction zone, said Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske. Two construction workers were knocked down in the process but had “very minor” injuries, Roeske said.

The driver ran from the scene, Roeske said. The two passengers with minor injuries “claimed not to know who the driver was.”

There’s no further word on why a loaded pistol was in the car.

A 76-year-old woman was run over and killed Monday morning in southern Dakota County when she stepped in front of a car near her mailbox, across the highway from her home, authorities said.

Alonza C. Raway, of Hampton, was struck shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Hwy. 50, just east of Hampton, according to the State Patrol.

Two-lane Hwy. 50 was closed for hours in both directions east of Hwy. 52 as investigators worked the scene.

“We believe she may have had to cross the street to get the paper and was returning to her house,” said Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske.

The vehicle involved was a Honda Civic driven by Mark A. Coulter, 56, of Hastings, the patrol said. Coulter was not hurt.

On Monday, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Department released information about a fatal motorcycle crash Saturday night in Fridley. Nicholas A. Oweczynsky, 24, of Coon Rapids, died at Hennepin County Medical Center after the crash, which happened at about 9:15 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of University Avenue and 73rd Avenue NE. Oweczynsky lost control during a turn and crashed to the pavement, resulting in multiple injuries, including massive head trauma, police said. He was not wearing a helmet.