Introduction
Nowdays we zip to our destination on freeways, but there are still remnants of roads from an earlier time hidden away. Here are a few of them in the Twin Cities metro and the southern part of Minnesota.

US Highway 52
Old US 52, North of Zumbrota
Old US 52, near Hampton

Old US 52, here known as "Marion Road" where it was severed to build I-90
Minnesota Historical Society
Laying down pavement in 1936.
The first two pictures are from various sections of US 52 between Rochester and the Twin Cities. US 52 has always been an important road. It was paved early on, and then some of these original sections were bypassed when the expressway was built. These sections were left to provide local access. In the top photo, you used to be able to drive farther, but the snow fence has since gone up, as nothing is beyond. Also note the modern highway in both photos, epecially viable in the second.

The third photo shows pavement being laid down. The Minnesota Historical Society doesn't seem to know where it was taken, but it could well be US 52 because this is definately the southern or central part of the state

Minnesota Route 56: Lake Louise State Park
You can still see remnants of asphalt and ditches to the side from the days when this trail was a highway.
A portion of the old highway, including this bridge, is used as the park entrance road,
Many early state highways were routed on existing section line roads before more direct routes (often paralleling railroad tracks) were built. This is a section of MN 56 near LeRoy. Many years after the highway was routed off this road, the surrounding area was incorperated into Lake Louise State Park

Today the old road serves primarly as a hiking trail. The grading is still very visable, as are remnents of asphalt, which probably date from after it became a local road. A short section of the road, including an iron bridge, was recycled into an entrance road for the park

Bloomington Ferry Bridge Approach Road
The old Bloomington Ferry Bridge Road, officially called River Dr.
In the 1990's the Bloomington Ferry Bridge was replaced by a freeway, but before that could happen the existing approach road had to be reconstructed to keep it out of the way of the new interchange with MN 13 in order to maintain traffic. The result is an abandoned highway still in pristine condition. The original signs were originally left in place, but most of them have since been stolen

The whole area is in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Closer to the river, the old road was removed except for a narrow strip used as a bike trail, but farther away in this photo it was left as-is. It's closed off by a lockable gate, still used by wildlife refuge employees, and it has been opened to allow hunters to access the area at least once.

As for the old bridge itself, it was originally going to be maintained as a bicycle crossing, but projected mainenance costs were too high, and so it was demolished and replaced with a new bicycle bridge.
"Lookout Park" Wayside
Lookout Park was an old highway wayside on US 212 in what is now Eden Prairie. Built in 1938, it is now owned by the Metro Airports Commission. Unfortunately it is in a state of disrepair. Note the crumbling stonework where a plaque used to be. The park made the Minnesota Preservation Alliances list of the 10 most endangered properties of 2001. For a brief period of time it was accessable, allowing me to take pictures, but it's since been chained off again.
Right now no one seems to know what to do with it. It's historic, so you can't just sell it to a developer. The Metro Airports Commission certainly has no use for it. Now that the new US 212 freeway throught the southeast metro is under connstruction the present route isn't going to be a trunk highway much longer, precluding returning it to a functional wayside. It's too remote for a local neighborhood park and too small for a more regionally oriented park.
An overview of the parking area, looking west. As you
 can see it is rather overgrown, although some attempt
 has been made in recent years to remove the largest of the brush.

Minnesota Department of Highways
Minnesota Historical Society
Closeup of where a historical plaque was mounted,
 visable at right in the previous photo		 The area in 1939
On a statewide basis, Mn/DOT is at least starting to appreciate the significance of old historical markers, scenic overlooks, and the like. In 2000 they undertook a survey of what they had in the way of "roadside developement structures" that were potentially historic. This was later revised upwards to 126 to include the 1940s era state boundary markers. However the problem is that being next to roads these have a tendancy to get wiped out in road improvements. Also they are not appreciated by the traveling public any more. The days are gone when a family on a road trip would pull over to see a historical marker or scenic overlook, perhaps stopping to eat their picnic lunch. Nowdays it's a quick pit stop at a fast food, and then back to the DVD and MP3 players.

US Highway 61

Daniel Kahnke
100 year old iron bridge on old 61 now used as a private driverway..

Daniel Kahnke
Old US 61 south of Kellogg.
The history behind US 61 starts out the same as US 52, in that early on it was envisioned as a high speed expressay southeast out of the Twin Cities. Some of the sections were built early enough for some of the original sections to be left behind.
Ultimately, however the US 61 corridor met a different fate. They built the easy parts first, farther southeast where land was cheaper and the topography gentler, then focus shifted on US 52. As a result, the US 61 expressway comes to an abrupt halt at Wabasha. By contrast the US 52 expressway was completed and is even scheduled to be upgraded to a freeway. US 52 and I-90 are the preferred through routes between the Twin Cities and LaCrosse and points southeast, even though the distance is longer.

In the past 30 years, the only significant work on US 61 was the completion of a short stretch of four lane west of Red Wing. Studies are underway in regards to the remaining two lane stretch between Red Wing and Wabasha, but US 61 will never be a high speed through route like was the original intent.

US Highway 14: Winona to Stockton
US 14 between Winona and Stockton goes through some very challenging topography. Along the way it needs to climb out of the Mississippi River Valley and then go through some very hilly terrrain- this is the "driftless" area of the state, that the last glaciers missed and thus did not flatten. Although still a route that should be driven with care, over the years they've done some tweaking of the route to bring it closer to desirable standards, leaving some abandoned segments behind.

Daniel Kahnke
Daniel Kahnke
Old US 14 at "Devil's Elbow"

 Old retaining wall nearby. Note the guardrail for the new highway in the background.

Daniel Kahnke
Vintage Postcard, scan by Daniel Kahnke
Another view of the retaining wall What the area looked like in the early days."Trail 7" points to a date between 1920 and 1933, when this was Constitutional Route 7.

Page Last Updated: January 2008