Don’t plan to drive on Interstate 94 through St. Paul this weekend.

All club-goers, delivery drivers and even Neil Diamond fans heading to the Xcel Energy Center this weekend will need to map out a route other than I-94 in St. Paul, which is shutting down in both directions through early Monday.

At 10 p.m. Friday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will close I-94 in both directions for 6.5 miles through St. Paul, from Minnesota 280 to Interstate 35E, so that Xcel Energy can relocate utility lines. The highway will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday.

That stretch of the interstate handles an average of some 137,000 drivers a day at its center-point with Snelling Avenue, and relocating that many drivers will be eventful.

Commuters looking to bypass the closures entirely are asked to follow detour signs along Minnesota 280, Minnesota 36 and Interstate 35E.

But drivers planning local exits likely will follow University Avenue, frontage roads and city streets, or ditch their cars and opt to take the Green Line light-rail corridor instead.

The event lineup in downtown St. Paul this weekend is mercifully light, but some traffic tie-ups are well nigh inevitable.

At the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, the Minnesota RollerGirls are playing a double-header, and the Minnesota Swarm lacrosse team will take on the Buffalo Bandits. On Sunday night, crooner Neil Diamond will perform at the X to promote his latest album.

And AWP, the largest literary conference in North America, is at the Minneapolis Convention Center this week. Most events drawing the crowd of more than 15,000 are in Minneapolis, but a handful of off site events take place in St. Paul. SubText bookstore alone has eight readings scheduled Friday through Sunday.

Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, said St. Paul drivers are no strangers to major roadwork.

“I knew this was coming, blasted it out to our membership, and we’ve gotten some reaction. But it’s one of those things where there are no alternatives,” Kramer said. “There are times you have to close the highway for safety reasons. Three years of working on the Lafayette Bridge and I-35E north has taught all of us the importance of paying attention to transportation needs.

“This is further testament to the benefit of transit,” Kramer added. “I’m primarily a car user. I’m significantly impacted. For people who take light rail, this is a nonissue.”

St. Paul cab driver Chey Eisenman said she expects to lose some potential Minneapolis fares to light rail this weekend and other potential riders will forgo the west metro trip all together.

“I do notice whenever 94 is closed on a weekend, I don’t see a lot of east metro-to-Minneapolis runs,” said Eisenman, owner of Chey Cab in St. Paul. “People just decide not to go to Minneapolis.”

Those who do call a taxi for cross-metro trips should be prepared for longer waits and possibly higher fares, too.

“When you’re stopped at a stop light the meter continues to run on time, as opposed to driving down the freeway running on mileage,” said Steve Osiecki, a dispatcher at St. Paul Yellow Cab. “A downtown-to-downtown run that’s normally $25 will probably be pushing over $32.”

Annelise Searle, a spokeswoman with Regions Hospital in St. Paul, said the hospital will share detour information with patients and employees through its website and social media pages.

The hospital works with the St. Paul Fire Department and roughly 35 EMS agencies that drop off patients by ambulance and will coordinate with them accordingly, Searle said.

The hospital houses the East Metro Medical Resource Control Center, a central dispatch for ambulances in the east metro, which also will be able to direct paramedics.

Kari Canfield, executive director of the Midway Chamber of Commerce at University and Snelling avenues, said her organization is using email alerts and social media such as Facebook and Twitter to alert their 325 member businesses about the highway closure.

“We’re doing our best to communicate it to our member business community,” Canfield said. “Of course, it’s never an ideal situation when there’s construction. It not only affects businesses, but residents getting around.”

Howie Padilla, a spokesman for Metro Transit, said bus route adjustments will be announced later this week.

The I-94 highway closure will allow Xcel Energy to relocate power lines in advance of a state construction and resurfacing project along Snelling Avenue in Falcon Heights and St. Paul, also known as Minnesota 51.

The roadwork is tentatively scheduled to begin in May. As part of the project, MnDOT plans to replace the Snelling Avenue bridge deck over Interstate 94, and the Xcel wires are located along the deck itself.

“When we do our project, we’re actually taking that bridge deck off,” said Kirsten Klein, a spokeswoman with MnDOT. “The lines have to be moved before we do that, because there will be a full closure on 51.”

That project, too, will be dicey for drivers, though the start date may be pushed back if MnDOT chooses to rebid the Snelling Avenue roadwork. The sole bid recently came in nearly $4 million higher than the initial state estimate of $9.5 million.

MnDOT plans to begin work on a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge across I-94 at MacKubin Street, between Western Avenue and Dale Street, in June.

In downtown St. Paul, the eastbound connection from I-94 to U.S. 52 will reopen in September when the two new Lafayette Bridge spans make their debut, capping a four-year construction odyssey that began in March 2011.

More information about this weekend’s I-94 road closure and the Snelling Avenue resurfacing project is available online at mndot.gov/metro/projects/snellingfalconheights.

Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172.

Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.