Minnesota State Highway 5

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trunk Highway 5
Legislative Routes 45, 102, 109, 111, and 121, maintained by Mn/DOT
Length: 86.194 mi[1] (138.716 km)
West end: TH 19 / TH 22 in Gaylord
Major
junctions:
US 212 in Norwood Young America
I-494 in Eden Prairie
I-35E in St. Paul
East end: TH 36 in Oak Park Heights
Minnesota State Highways
< TH 4 TH 6 >

Minnesota State Highway 5 or Trunk Highway 5 (TH 5) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It runs through downtown St. Paul.

Contents

[edit] Termini

The highway extends from Minnesota State Highway 22 in Gaylord, Minnesota at the western end to Minnesota State Highway 36 in Stillwater, Minnesota near the Wisconsin border. For many years, the eastern end of the highway between Saint Paul and Stillwater was marked as MN-212 (it once reached U.S. Highway 212), but that segment was re-numbered around 1983.

[edit] Notes

Part of Highway 5 is designed as a freeway near the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Just to the west of that segment, the highway is routed along Interstate 494 for 11 miles.

When Highway 5 was slated for expansion in 1956, the construction threatened to demolish the remains of Historic Fort Snelling, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. As a result of public outcry, the highway was built in a short tunnel underneath the Fort Snelling site, sparing the fort from destruction. This effort led to archaeological research into the remains of Fort Snelling and its eventual rebuilding as a state park.

Highway 5 is considered a significant transit corridor (known as the Riverview Corridor) to downtown Saint Paul from the airport and points farther south and west. There has been discussion of creating a bus rapid transit or light rail line along the highway, much like the Hiawatha Line currently runs rails into downtown Minneapolis along Minnesota State Highway 55.

Highway 5 is also known as Fort Road and West 7th Street in the city of St. Paul.

45 miles of Highway 5 is officially designated the Augie Mueller Memorial Highway. This designation is signed from its intersection with Highway 101 in Chanhassen southwesterly to its intersection with Highway 19 in Gaylord.

New gore signs placed on France Avenue in Bloomnington at its interchange with Interstate 494 do not mention the Highway 5 concurrency (whereas the older signs they replaced did). It is not yet known if this signifies a future truncation of Highway 5.

[edit] Communities along the route

[edit] References

*Steve Riner (November 20, 2004). Details of Routes 1-25. Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Accessed November 24, 2004.

  • Adam Froehlig (December 20, 2002). Minnesota Highway 5. MN Highway Endings. Accessed November 24, 2004.
  • Institute for Minnesota Archaeology (June 29, 1999). Old Fort Snelling, From Site to Story. Accessed March 26, 2006.