U.S. Route 52 in Minnesota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| U.S. Highway 52 |
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| Length: | 377 mi (607 km) 243 miles along I-94 |
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| Formed: | 1934 | ||||||||
| South end: |  U.S. 52 at Chester, Iowa |
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| Major junctions: |
 I-90 near Rochester  U.S. 63/U.S. 14 at Rochester   I-94/I-35E/U.S. 10 in St. Paul I-35W in Minneapolis  I-394/U.S. 12 in Minneapolis U.S. 169 in Brooklyn Park U.S. 75 in Moorhead |
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| North end: | I-94/U.S. 52 at Fargo, ND |
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U.S. Highway 52 enters the state of Minnesota north of the town of Chester, Iowa. The road is marked north-south in Minnesota along its independent segment. Highway 52 is unsigned along Interstate 94 from St. Paul to the North Dakota border in Moorhead.
[edit] Route Description
U.S. Highway 52 enters Fillmore County and heads through the same Driftless Area it ran through in Iowa. The road heads through Preston and proceeds north to Chatfield. Highway 52 leaves the river bluffs near Chatfield and enters terrain typical of southern Minnesota. This area is mostly farmland for the rest of the length until the road enters Rochester. Interstate 90 intersects Highway 52 south of Rochester, and is a major junction. Highway 52 expands to a 4-lane freeway north of the junction. The road expands further to 6-lanes around Rochester, from the junction with U.S. Route 63 to north of the city. U.S. Route 14 is a major route, and connects Owatonna to Rochester. North of Rochester, Highway 52 becomes a 4-lane expressway through the farmland of Olmsted and Goodhue Counties. Zumbrota is bypassed by the highway and the road heads to Dakota County. In Cannon Falls, Highway 52 has two traffic lights in the southern part of town. North of Coates, the road enters the edge of the Twin Cities area. The road enters Inver Grove Heights where it becomes a freeway north of Concord Blvd. Highway 52 splits with Minnesota State Highway 55 north of there. Highway 55 heads to Minneapolis, while Highway 52 heads to St. Paul. I-494 intersects 52 in the northern part of Inver Grove Heights. The St. Paul Downtown Airport is right off of Highway 52 in St. Paul. After Highway 52 crosses the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, the road intersects Interstate 94 and follows that road all the way to the North Dakota border. U.S. Highway 52 is unsigned along the length of its concurrency with I-94.
[edit] History
U.S. Highway 52 was extended into the state of Minnesota in 1934. The road replaced the former routing of U.S. Route 55 from the Iowa border to the Twin Cities, and the former route of U.S. Highway 10S from Minneapolis west to North Dakota. Interstate 94 replaced most of the routing of Highway 52 west of St. Cloud, and county roads have replaced it from St. Cloud to Minneapolis. Highway 52 was routed along University Avenue through Minneapolis and St. Paul until about 1995. The highway was routed along Robert Street through St. Paul and into Inver Grove Heights until 1995, when Highway 52 was moved onto the freeway section it is on now. U.S. Highway 52 was built as an expressway from Rochester to St. Paul in the 1960s. The road was expanded to a 6-lane freeway through Rochester in 2005.
[edit] References
- Steve Riner Details of Routes 51-75. The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Accessed March 24, 2007.
