Minnesota State Highway 55

Trunk Highway 55
Olson Memorial Highway
Route information
Maintained by Mn/DOT
Length:	220.572 mi[1] (354.976 km)
Existed:	1933 – present
Major junctions
West end:	ND 11 at the Bois de Sioux River
	US 59 / MN 79 in Elbow Lake MN 28 / MN 29 in Glenwood MN 4 / MN 23 in Paynesville MN 25 in Buffalo I-494 in Plymouth US 169 in Golden Valley MN 100 in Golden Valley I-94 in Minneapolis MN 5 / MN 62 in Fort Snelling US 52 in Rosemount
East end:	US 61 in Hastings
Location
Counties:	Wilkin, Grant, Douglas, Pope, Stearns, Kandiyohi, Meeker, Wright, Hennepin, Dakota
Highway system
Minnesota Trunk Highways Interstate US State Legislative routes ← MN 54 MN 56 →

Minnesota State Highway 55 (MN 55) is a highway in west-central, central, and east-central Minnesota, which runs from the North Dakota state line near Tenney and continues east and southeast to its eastern terminus at its intersection with U.S. Highway 61 in Hastings.

This route, signed east–west, runs roughly diagonally across the central part of Minnesota.

Highway 55 is 221 miles (356 km) in length.

Route description

Highway 55 serves as a northwest–southeast route between Elbow Lake, Glenwood, Paynesville, Annandale, Buffalo, Plymouth, Minneapolis, Mendota Heights, and Hastings.

Highway 55 begins at the Bois de Sioux River, at the Minnesota — North Dakota state line near Tenney. North Dakota Highway 11 is its counterpoint upon crossing the state line. Highway 55 continues east to Tenney, Nashua, and Wendell. The route has a junction with U.S. Highway 59 before entering the city of Elbow Lake. Highways 55 and 59 run concurrently for 11 miles until reaching Barrett.

Highway 55 then continues independently again to Hoffman, Kensington, Farwell, and Lowry before reaching the city of Glenwood. At Glenwood, Highway 55 has an intersection with State Highway 29 and an interchange with State Highway 28.

The route continues southeast to Sedan and Brooten before reaching its junction with U.S. Highway 71 in Belgrade. Highway 55 passes through Regal before reaching its junction with State Highways 4 and 23 at the city of Paynesville.

Highway 55 continues east to Eden Valley and Watkins before reaching its junction with State Highway 15 at Kimball.

The route has a junction with State Highway 24 in Annandale. Highway 55 continues to Maple Lake and then Buffalo, where it has a junction with State Highway 25.

Highway 55 enters the Twin Cities area at Rockford and Greenfield, continuing east to Medina and Plymouth. Highway 55 has a junction with I-494 in Plymouth. Highway 55 continues east and has a junction with U.S. Highway 169 at the Plymouth / Golden Valley boundary line. Highway 55 continues through Golden Valley to its junction with State Highway 100. The route then continues east and enters the city of Minneapolis.

The highway has been designated Olson Memorial Highway,^[2] named for Floyd B. Olson, a popular Minnesota governor of Norwegian ancestry. Olson grew up in North Minneapolis, near where the highway runs. While the entire route is designated as the Olson Memorial Highway, it is only consistently signed as such between Interstate 494 and N 7th Street in Minneapolis. The part of Highway 55 southeast of downtown is known as Hiawatha Avenue. A light rail corridor, the Blue Line, runs parallel to the highway for much of the Hiawatha Avenue stretch.

Olson Memorial Highway statue

In July 2005, the section of Highway 55 that runs through downtown Minneapolis was turned back to local maintenance. To fill the gap, Highway 55 was rerouted along Interstate 94. Westbound, 55 now exits just before downtown at the westbound I-94 exit, and leaves the concurrency at the exit for the Olson Highway, marked with the Highway 55 shield. Eastbound, 55 leaves the Olson Highway at the interchange for I-94 eastbound, and leaves the freeway at the exit for Hiawatha Avenue, which is also marked with the Highway 55 shield.

There has been some controversy with expansion of the highway. An area known as Camp Coldwater, considered by some as the "birthplace of Minnesota," was dug up during some construction. Highway 55 has a junction with State Highway 62 at this point.

Fort Snelling State Park is located near the junction of Highway 55 and State Highway 5. The park entrance is located on Highway 5 at Post Road.

Highway 55 crosses the Minnesota River via the Mendota Bridge, which was the longest continuous bridge made of poured concrete when it was completed in 1926. It is 4,119 feet (1,255 m) in length.

The Mendota Bridge between Fort Snelling and Mendota Heights carries Highway 55 over the Minnesota River

The route enters Mendota Heights and has a junction with State Highways 13 and 110.

Highway 55 continues southeast through Eagan, joining briefly with State Highway 149. The route then has a junction with State Highway 3 in Inver Grove Heights. Highway 55 then runs concurrent with U.S. Highway 52 through Inver Grove Heights and into Rosemount. At Rosemount, Highway 55 leaves U.S. 52. Highway 55 continues independently again to its eastern terminus at its intersection with U.S. Highway 61 in the city of Hastings.

History

Highway 55 was authorized in 1933.^[3]

In late December 2006, someone added a 7-foot (2.1 m) painting of Pac-Man near one of the anti-tailgating dots on the road. This is located on the portion of Highway 55 between Buffalo and Rockford, traveling east of Buffalo.

In late June 2016, someone added a painting of Ms. Pacman on the east bound Lane of Hwy 55, just outside of Buffalo at the first dot of the anti tailgating markers.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1][4][5][6]	km	Destinations	Notes
Bois de Sioux River		0.000	0.000	ND 11 west	Continuation into North Dakota
				Bridge
Wilkin	Campbell Township	3.503	5.638	US 75
	Champion Township	10.706	17.230	MN 9
Grant	Pomme de Terre Township	27.841	44.806	US 59 north	West end of US 59 overlap
	Elbow Lake	31.218	50.241	MN 79
		31.880	51.306	MN 54
	Barrett	38.826	62.484	US 59 south	East end of US 59 overlap
	Hoffman	45.704	73.553	MN 27
Pope	Ben Wade Township	61.151	98.413	MN 114 north	West end of MN 114 overlap
	Lowry	61.814	99.480	MN 114 south	East end of MN 114 overlap
	Reno Township	68.816	110.749	MN 29
	Glenwood	70.824– 71.070	113.980– 114.376	MN 28 – Glenwood, Sauk Center, Morris	Interchange
Stearns	Belgrade	93.667	150.742	US 71 south	West end of US 71 overlap
	Crow River Township	94.649	152.323	US 71 north	East end of US 71 overlap
Kandiyohi	Roseville Township	106.064	170.693	MN 4 north	West end of MN 4 overlap
Stearns	Paynesville	108.569	174.725	MN 23	Interchange
Meeker	Union Grove Township	113.517	182.688	MN 4 south	East end of MN 4 overlap
	Eden Valley	119.491	192.302	MN 22
Stearns	Kimball	131.973	212.390	MN 24 south / MN 15	West end of MN 24 overlap
Wright	Annandale	141.631	227.933	MN 24 north	East end of MN 24 overlap
	Buffalo	155.200	249.770	MN 25 (Central Avenue)
Hennepin	Plymouth	180.435– 180.592	290.382– 290.635	I-494	Interchange; I-494 exit 22
	Plymouth–Golden Valley line	183.813– 184.247	295.818– 296.517	US 169	Interchange
	Golden Valley	186.487– 186.746	300.122– 300.539	MN 100	Interchange
	Minneapolis	189.651	305.214	I-94 west	West end of I-94 overlap; I-94 exit 230
		See I-94
		191.914	308.856	I-94 east	East end of I-94 overlap; I-94 exit 234A
				I-35W north / 7th Street / 3rd Street / Washington Avenue – University of Minnesota	Westbound left exit and eastbound left entrance
		192.248– 192.574	309.393– 309.918	Cedar Avenue	Interchange
		193.163– 193.464	310.866– 311.350	East Lake Street	Interchange
	Unorganized Territory of Fort Snelling	197.142– 197.233	317.269– 317.416	MN 62 west (Crosstown Highway)	Interchange; west end of freeway section
				Bloomington Road – Fort Snelling Historic Site	Ft. Snelling not signed eastbound
		197.800– 198.217	318.328– 318.999	MN 5 – Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, St. Paul
Minnesota River		198.227	319.015	Mendota Bridge
Dakota	Mendota Heights	199.151	320.502	MN 110 east	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		199.935	321.764	MN 13 to MN 110	At-grade intersection; east end of freeway section
	Eagan	202.163– 202.171	325.350– 325.363	MN 149 north (Dodd Road north)	West end of MN 149 overlap
		202.705	326.222	MN 149 south (Dodd Road south)	East end of MN 149 overlap
	Inver Grove Heights	204.557– 204.974	329.203– 329.874	MN 3 (South Robert Trail)	West end of freeway section
		205.929– 205.930	331.411– 331.412	CR 73 (Barnes Avenue)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		206.515	332.354	US 52 north (Lafayette Freeway) – St. Paul	West end of US 52 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
				CSAH 56 (Concord Boulevard)	Former MN 56
	Inver Grove Heights–Rosemount line			117th Street
	Rosemount	210.836	339.308	US 52 south – Rochester	East end of US 52 overlap; east end of freeway section; interchange eastbound, access via connector road westbound
	Hastings	220.306– 220.313	354.548– 354.559	US 61	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

Route map: Google