A four-mile stretch of southbound Interstate 35 was closed for a few hours Saturday morning south of Owatonna between Highway 30 at Ellendale and the next highway exit at Geneva because of multiple crashes involving cars and semi-trailer trucks, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Southbound motorists used exit 26 at Ellendale to take Highway 30 east to Steele County Road 45 south to Freeborn County Road 35 west to I-35 to return to the highway at exit 22.

The closure was needed to safely clear the highway of the crashed vehicles and clean up debris.

At least three crashes were reported southbound in that stretch of I-35 on Saturday morning.

MnDOT announced the opening of the highway via Twitter at www.twitter.com/mndotsoutheast around 2 p.m.

The update said there were still spinouts being seen on I-35, and motorists are urged to use caution and adjust to a slower speed.

For updated road condition information, call 511 or visit www.511mn.org.