We commend the Minnesota Department of Transportation for having the sense to close down Interstate 90 on Sunday.

The Interstate Highway System is a collection of controlled-access, multi-lane roads. With access limited, this means getting off the road can be difficult, too. At least two-lane country roads have farmhouses or small towns nearby. Freeways leave people stuck in their cars for hours until authorities can reach them.

This move by MnDOT and the South Dakota Department of Transportation prevented travelers from entering a controlled-access roadway in the middle of a blizzard on the wide-open prairie. No one could head west from Albert Lea.

We are perplexed, however, that the Iowa Department of Transportation didn’t make the same move for Interstate 35. The blizzard ran across several states at a northwest-southeast angle and prompted a National Weather Service blizzard warning across much of Iowa. Watching weather reports on TV, it appeared visibility was worse in the Mason City area than it was in the Albert Lea area.

As travelers head northward from Owatonna, trees become more and more common. They act as windbreakers. As motorists drive south and into Iowa, they encounter — like on I-90 west of Albert Lea — wide-open prairie.

Iowa, for some reason, didn’t feel the need to close Interstate 35. As a result, we end up with a jackknifed semi on the bridges over Albert Lea Lake. We heard reports of cars in the ditches up and down that stretch of Iowa.

To be sure, perhaps I-35 south of Faribault ought to have been closed, too. People traveling down Monday morning spoke of the ditches being littered with automobiles.

A blizzard on the prairie is the reason the freeways in these parts have gates. We have seen storms just like the one Sunday where Iowa closed Interstate 35. Let’s hope next time, Iowa DOT officials use them.