Minnesota State Highway 101

Trunk Highway 101
Route information
Maintained by Mn/DOT
Length:	14.061 mi[1] (22.629 km)
Existed:	1934[2] – present
Section 1
Length:	7.206 mi (11.597 km)
South end:	Scott–Carver county line at the Shakopee Bridge
North end:	MN 5 at Chanhassen Carver / Hennepin County line
Section 2
Length:	6.855 mi (11.032 km)
South end:	I-94 at Rogers
North end:	US 10 / US 169 at Elk River
Location
Counties:	Carver, Hennepin, Wright, Sherburne
Highway system
Minnesota Trunk Highways Interstate US State Legislative routes ← MN 100 MN 102 →

Minnesota State Highway 101 (MN 101) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The present day route currently has three separate segments. The roadway was a continuous route until 1988.

Route description

The northern section of the roadway, between Rogers and Elk River, is 6.9 miles (11.1 km) in length. This is a busy highway, well-used on weekends by Twin Cities travelers going west on Interstate 94 through Elk River and continuing north on U.S. Highway 169 to Mille Lacs Lake and other lakes in central Minnesota. This amount of use triggered Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) to build interchanges along the route and convert the portion of Highway 101 in Wright County to a full freeway. These interchanges are at County Roads 36, 37, 39, and 42.^[3] The project of converting the Wright County portion to a freeway was completed in 2008. In 2010, Mn/DOT built a new flyover ramp at the interchange of Highway 101 and Interstate 94. This ramp allows traffic connecting from westbound 94 to northbound 101 to bypass the stoplights at the interchange and the South Diamond Lake Road intersection. In 2014, the intersection at Hennepin County Rd. 144 was converted to a DDI interchange, leaving the intersection at South Diamond Lake Rd as the only intersection on Highway 101 between I-94 and U.S. 10.

State Highway 101 originally had a lot longer mileage, starting in Elk River, continuing south through Rogers, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Wayzata, Minnetonka, and Chanhassen before crossing the Minnesota River and terminating in Shakopee. Between 1988 and 1997, the section of State Highway 101 between Chanhassen and Rogers was turned back to county maintenance in several stages.^[4]

The section of Highway 101 in Chanhassen is still active as a state highway. However, this part of the highway has also had some turnbacks. State Highway 101 used to cross the Minnesota River and enter downtown Shakopee, then turned east and proceeded just south of the Minnesota River to a junction with State Highway 13 in Savage. The new U.S. Highway 169 freeway bypass of Shakopee in 1996 meant that Highway 101 was no longer necessary to maintain as a state marked route east of downtown Shakopee. Interestingly, though, the section of old Highway 101 east of Highway 169 to Highway 13 at Savage is still maintained as a state highway, but not with a signed route number. Instead, it has the unmarked legislative route number of Highway 801-B. The 2004 Control Section Guide states that this section is considered part of the U.S. 169 / County 101 / Highway 13 interchange (at the Shakopee / Savage boundary line) and will not have a route or control section number.^[5]

The two sections of old State Highway 101 that were turned back to county maintenance between 1988 and 1997 are both signed now as County Road 101 in the present day, to maintain a unity in the eyes of the general public.

The most recent turnback occurred in 2011 when Highway 101 between U.S. 212 and State Highway 5 in Chanhassen was turned over to Carver County maintenance and re-signed as Carver County Road 101, using the white-rectangle county road sign format instead of the blue-pentagon signs used by Hennepin and Scott counties. This divides the southern section of State Highway 101 into two disjointed sections.

History

State Highway 101 was defined, along with many other routes, by Chapter 440 of the 1933 Minnesota Session Laws:

Legislative Route No. 187. Beginning at a point on Legislative Route No. 18 [U.S. Highway 169] at or near Elk River, thence extending in a southerly direction to a point on Legislative Route No. 117 [State Highway 13] as herein established.

The Minnesota Department of Highways (now Mn/DOT) took over maintenance of the roadway in 1934. Highway 101 began at State Highway 13 in Savage, at the intersection of Dakota Avenue and McColl Drive, and ran west on McColl Drive and Eagle Creek Boulevard to downtown Shakopee. Old Highway 101 crossed the Minnesota River with U.S. Highway 169, and crossed U.S. Highway 212 along the present day Carver County portion of Highway 101. From Shakopee to near Rogers, the original routing of Highway 101 matched the present day State Highway 101 and County Road 101 except in downtown Chanhassen, where old 101 had followed Great Plains Boulevard and 78th Street (the later State Highway 5), in downtown Wayzata, where old 101 followed LaSalle Street to Central Avenue, and on the State Highway 55 / 101 concurrency at Plymouth / Medina, which was along Old Rockford Road and Hamel Road. Instead of using old State Highway 152 (now County Road 81) into Rogers, old Highway 101 continued north on Brockton Avenue (now County 13) and crossed the Crow River at its mouth, then heading northwest and north on River Road and Parrish Avenue to the Parrish Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River. Upon crossing the bridge, old Highway 101 entered Elk River and immediately ended at U.S. Highway 10 and U.S. Highway 169 via short pieces of Main Street and Jackson Avenue.^[2][6]

The U.S. Highway 169 bypass east of downtown Elk River was built in 1961, and old Highway 101 was extended north on old Highway 169 (Jackson Avenue) to the north end of the bypass.^[7] Later, in 1968, the bypass was extended south to old State Highway 152 in Rogers, and Highway 101 was realigned to be concurrent with old Highway 152 and use the new bypass from Rogers north to Elk River. The original alignment of Highway 101 was turned over to the counties (renumbered as County 13 / Brockton Avenue in northern Hennepin County and County 42 in Wright County), and the extension north of downtown Elk River was renumbered State Highway 201 until 1987.^[2][8] Highway 101 was realigned to the present day County Road 101 between Savage and downtown Shakopee in 1940. In 1964, the State Highway 5 bypass of downtown Chanhassen was built, but Highway 101 remained on the old route until the 1980s, when it was moved to the bypass. The relocation of State Highway 55 at Plymouth / Medina, and with it the brief Highway 55 / 101 concurrency, came in 1942 west of and 1954 east of the intersection with the old alignment.^[9]

Major intersections

The following list includes the major intersections of both present day MN 101 and CR 101.

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Scott	Savage	0.000	0.000	MN 13	South end of unmarked route 801B
	Shakopee	1.128– 1.188	1.815– 1.912	US 169 south / CR 21 – Mankato	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; interchange
		1.704	2.742	US 169 north – Bloomington	North end of unmarked route 801B; south end of CR 101; interchange
				CR 69	Old US 169 southbound
Minnesota River		8.328	13.403	Shakopee Bridge
Carver	Chanhassen	8.837– 8.902	14.222– 14.326	CR 61 west (Flying Cloud Drive)	Old US 212 eastbound; north end of CR 101, MN 101 resumes north of Flying Cloud Drive
		9.037	14.544	CR 61 east (Flying Cloud Drive)	Old US 212 westbound; south end of MN 101
				CR 14 (Pioneer Trail)	North end of MN 101; south end of CR 101
		11.500	18.507	US 212	New US 212 freeway
		12.755	20.527	MN 5 west	North end of CR 101
		13.391	21.551	MN 5 east	South end of MN 101
Hennepin	Eden Prairie	15.534	25.000	Vine Hill Road	North end of MN 101; south end of CR 101
	Minnetonka			CR 62
				MN 7
	Wayzata			US 12 east / CR 15	Interchange
				US 12	Interchange
	Plymouth			MN 55 east	South end of MN 55 overlap
	Medina			MN 55 west	North end of MN 55 overlap
	Maple Grove			CR 10	^1⁄4-mile (0.40 km) overlap segment with CR 10 eliminated in 2010, now intersection
	Dayton			CR 81 / CR 13	Northern terminus of CR 101; old MN 101 uses CR 81; CR 101 becomes CR 13
	Rogers	39.624– 39.663	63.769– 63.831	I-94 – Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Cloud	North end of CR 81; south end of MN 101
		39.856	64.142	South Diamond Lake Road	A flyover ramp connecting WB I-94 with NB MN 101 bypasses this intersection.
		40.708	65.513	CR 144 (141st Avenue)	Replaced with an interchange[3]
Wright	St. Michael	42.028	67.638	CR 36 (53rd Street)	Replaced with an interchange[3]
		43.635	70.224	CR 37 (70th Street)	Replaced with an interchange[3]
	Otsego	44.448	71.532	CR 42 (River Road)	Replaced with an interchange[3]
		45.688	73.528	CR 39 (90th Street)	Replaced with an interchange[3]
Mississippi River		46.200– 46.334	74.352– 74.567	Betty Adkins Bridge
Sherburne	Elk River	46.466– 46.479	74.780– 74.801	US 10 / US 169 – Anoka, Elk River, Princeton	Northern terminus of MN 101
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

1. Staff (July 2006). "Trunk Highway Log Point Files". Minnesota Department of Transportation.
2. Staff. "Control Section 7005" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 1009" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 1010" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 2736" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 2737" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 2768" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 8608" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
   • Staff. "Control Section 7105" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
3. "Reconstruction of Hwy 101 interchanges set between the Crow River and Elk River" (Press release). Minnesota Department of Transportation. June 2, 2006.
4. Riner, Steve. "Details of Routes 101–149". The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Retrieved April 8, 2006.
5. "MNDOT Control Section Guide" (pdf). MnDOT Transportation Data and Analysis. Minnesota Department of Transportation. 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2006.
6. Official Minnesota Highway (Map). Minnesota Department of Highways. 1934. Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Vicinity inset.
7. Elk River (Map). 1:62,500. (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 1964.
8. Staff. "Control Section 2738" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.
9. Staff. "Control Section 7110" (PDF). Construction Project Log Records. Minnesota Department of Transportation.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• Adam Froehlig – Minnesota Highway 101