What is the semicolon doing in this sentence?

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.

It’s uniting two closely connected clauses.

The semicolon in the sentence is uniting two closely connected clauses.