What is the semicolon doing in this sentence?

Question

You could take Main Street, but you would run into some traffic downtown; I’d suggest taking Laurel Street instead.

(1 point)
Responses

It’s separating items in a complex list.
It’s separating items in a complex list.

It’s uniting two closely connected clauses.
It’s uniting two closely connected clauses.

Answer 1

It’s uniting two closely connected clauses.