County Road 122 (Hennepin County, Minnesota)

Hennepin County Road 122 is an unsigned county state-aid highway within the city of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, crossing the Mississippi River on the Washington Avenue Bridge.

Route description

County 122 connects the East Bank and West Bank of the University of Minnesota - Minneapolis campus. On the East Bank, County 122 follows Washington Avenue and is the primary route through the Stadium Village district of the University. On the West Bank, County 122 follows a short freeway, with exits to Cedar Avenue and Interstate 35W, that feeds into 3rd Street and 4th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Between them is the double-decker Washington Avenue Bridge that carries vehicular traffic on the lower level and bicycle and pedestrian traffic on the top level.

The route stretches from Interstate 35W eastbound to University Avenue (CR 36); the continuation west of Interstate 35W into 3rd and 4th Streets (which cross downtown to Interstate 94 at exit number 230) is a city street.^[1][2] Since parts of old County Road 18 (now U.S. 169) and old County Road 62 (now State Highway 62) were transferred to state maintenance in 1988, County Road 122 is currently the only freeway maintained by Hennepin County.

History

In 1933, the Minnesota State Legislature added the corridor formed by Washington and University Avenues to the state highway system as part of Legislative Route 104:

Beginning at the present terminus of Minnesota Constitutional Route 3 on the easterly limits of the city of St. Paul, thence extending in a northwesterly direction through the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the present point of beginning of Constitutional Route 3 on the westerly limits of the city of Minneapolis.

By the time the Minnesota Department of Highways had laid out the numbering in 1934, this corridor served the following former route numbers: U.S. 12, U.S. 52, U.S. 218 (later State Highway 218), and State Highway 56. Highway 56 remained on University Avenue on the east side of the Mississippi River, but the three other routes all crossed the Washington Avenue Bridge into downtown Minneapolis. U.S. 12 turned off Washington Avenue to the west on Hennepin Avenue, and U.S. 52 and U.S. 218 left at Broadway Avenue (now County Road 81).^[3] Highway 218 was later eliminated, and Highway 56 north of Washington Avenue became State Highway 47 in 1963, but otherwise the routes remained the same - even exiting the new freeway to remain on Washington Avenue -^[4] until 1981.

In July 1981, U.S. 12 was rerouted onto Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, while the route of U.S. 52 was changed to use the Third Avenue Bridge, replacing the southernmost piece of State Highway 47 on University Avenue, and using 3rd and 4th Streets to Interstate 94 at exit number 230. Washington Avenue through downtown Minneapolis was removed from the state highway system, and the bridge and approaches were assigned state trunk highway number 122 (Highway 122) - and a new legislative route number (Route 385).^[5] The definition of Legislative Route 385 was repealed in 1996,^[6] and in November 1996, State Highway 122 was transferred to Hennepin County maintenance.^[7]

Exit list

References