U.S. Route 52 in Minnesota

U.S. Highway 52
Route information
Maintained by Mn/DOT
Length:	374.703 mi (603.026 km) 243 miles along I-94
Existed:	1934 – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 52 at Prosper
	I-90 near Rochester US 14 / US 63 at Rochester I-494 in Inver Grove Heights I-35E / I-94 / US 10 in St. Paul
North end:	I‑94 / US 52 at Fargo, ND
Location
Counties:	Fillmore, Olmsted, Goodhue, Dakota, Ramsey, Hennepin, Wright, Stearns, Todd, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Wilkin, Clay
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Minnesota Trunk Highways Interstate US State Legislative routes ← MN 51 US 53 →

U.S. Highway 52 (US 52 or Highway 52) enters the state of Minnesota at the unincorporated community of Prosper, north of the town of Burr Oak, Iowa. The route is marked north–south in Minnesota along its independent segment from the Iowa state line to downtown St. Paul. Highway 52 is not signed along the length of its concurrency with Interstate 94 (I-94) from downtown St. Paul to the North Dakota state line at Moorhead and Fargo.

Route description

U.S. Highway 52 in Rochester. The independent segment of Highway 52 is the only non-Interstate Highway in Minnesota to carry numbered exits.

U.S. 52 enters Fillmore County and heads through the same Driftless Area it ran through in Iowa. The route heads through Preston and proceeds north to Chatfield. Highway 52 leaves the river bluffs near Chatfield and enters terrain typical of southern Minnesota. This area is mostly farmland for the rest of the length until the route enters the city of Rochester. Highway 52 intersects Interstate 90 south of Rochester, and expands to a four-lane freeway north of this junction. The roadway expands further to six lanes around Rochester, from the junction with U.S. 63 to County Road 14, which is at the northern tip city. U.S. 14 is a major route, and connects Owatonna to Rochester. North of Rochester, Highway 52 becomes a four-lane expressway through the farmland of Olmsted and Goodhue counties. Zumbrota is bypassed by the highway and the route heads to Dakota County. In Cannon Falls, an interchange completed in October 2014, eliminated the last two traffic lights between St. Paul and Rochester on Highway 52. ^[1] North of Coates, Highway 52 enters the edge of the Twin Cities area. The route enters Inver Grove Heights where it becomes the Lafayette Freeway north of Concord Boulevard. Highway 52 splits with State Highway 55 north of there. Highway 55 heads to Minneapolis, while Highway 52 heads to St. Paul. Interstate 494 intersects 52 in the northern part of Inver Grove Heights. The St. Paul Downtown Airport is right off of Highway 52 in St. Paul. After Highway 52 crosses the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul, the route intersects Interstate 94 and follows I-94 to the North Dakota state line; U.S. 52 is not signed along the length of this concurrency.

History

Preston Overlook, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, on U.S. Highway 52 in Fillmore County.

U.S. Highway 52 was extended into the state of Minnesota in 1934. The road replaced the former routing of old U.S. Highway 55 from the Iowa state line to the Twin Cities, and the former route of old U.S. Highway 10S from Minneapolis west to North Dakota. Interstate 94 replaced most of the routing of Highway 52 west of St. Cloud, and the routing from St. Cloud to Minneapolis was replaced by U.S. Highway 10, U.S. Highway 169, and Hennepin County Road 81. Highway 52 was routed along University Avenue through Minneapolis and St. Paul until about 1995 (In 1986, Highway 52 on University Avenue between I-35W and the St. Paul border was turned over to Hennepin County maintenance and renumbered County 36 / 37, creating a gap in Highway 52 until the 1995 route change).

52 was routed along Robert Street through St. Paul, West St. Paul, and into Inver Grove Heights until 1995; when 52 was moved onto the nearby Lafayette Freeway. The Lafayette Bridge which takes the highway across the Mississippi River near downtown St. Paul was built in 1968 and is a "fracture critical" structure which is in need of replacement. Construction of the new bridge was completed in fall of 2015.^[2]

U.S. Highway 52 was built as an expressway from Rochester to St. Paul in the 1960s. The "ROC52" project expanded the section of Highway 52 in Rochester to a 6-lane freeway in 2005–2006.^[3] Between Rochester and the Twin Cities, several at-grade intersections have been converted to interchanges since the 1990s.

However, many at-grade intersections remain along this segment of highway. An experimental installation of Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems–Stop Sign Assist (CICAS–SSA) was installed at the intersection with Goodhue County Road 9, making use of dynamic message signs to show when it is safe to cross or turn onto the highway. It uses a diagram that looks like a divided highway sign A full-scale field test began in January 2010, though a previous version had also been tried at the intersection a few years earlier. The study will run through 2012.^[4][5]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[6]	km	Destinations	Notes
Fillmore	Prosper	0.000	0.000	US 52 south – Decorah	Continuation into Iowa
		1.005	1.617	MN 44 east
	Harmony	9.256	14.896	MN 139 south
	Preston	17.070	27.472	MN 16 east	Southern end of MN 16 overlap
		20.728	33.358	MN 16 west	Northern end of MN 16 overlap
	Fountain	24.902	40.076	MN 80 west
	Chatfield	34.357	55.292	MN 30 east / MN 74 north	Southern end of MN 30 overlap
Olmsted		34.856	56.095	MN 30 west	Northern end of MN 30 overlap
	Marion Township	46.491	74.820	I-90 east – Austin, La Crosse	I-90 exit 218
		47.668	76.714	CSAH 36 (Marion Road)
		51.009	82.091	CSAH 1 (11th Avenue SE)
	Rochester	52.180	83.976	US 63 south / S Broadway – Stewartville	Southern end of US 63 overlap
		54.346	87.461	CSAH 25 (16th Street SW)
		54.746	88.105	US 14 east (12th Street SW) – Winona	No access northbound, southern end of US 14 overlap
		54.797	88.187	6th Street SW	No southbound access
		55.399	89.156	2nd Street SW	Access to Mayo Clinic, Saint Marys Hospital
		56.466	90.873	US 14 west / Civic Center Drive NW – Owatonna	Partial cloverleaf, northern end of US 14 overlap
		57.345	92.288	19th Street NW, Elton Hills Dr NW	Single point urban interchange
		58.699– 58.981	94.467– 94.921	CSAH 22 east (37th Street NW) / 41st Street NW
		60.048	96.638	55th Street NW
		61.057	98.262	65th Street NW
		62.059	99.874	US 63 north / 75th Street NW – Zumbro Falls, Lake City	Northern end of US 63 overlap
	Oronoco Township	64.629	104.010	CSAH 12 west / CR 112 – Oronoco
	Pine Island	66.618	107.211	CSAH 12 east / CSAH 31 – Oronoco, Plainview	Diverging diamond interchange
Goodhue		71.624	115.268	CSAH 11 – Pine Island
	Zumbrota	76.232	122.684	MN 60 east – Mazeppa, Zumbro Falls	Southern end of MN 60 overlap
		77.621	124.919	MN 58 / CSAH 10 – Zumbrota, Red Wing
		78.669	126.605	MN 60 west – Wanamingo, Kenyon	Northern end of MN 60 overlap
	Hader	86.604	139.376	MN 57 / CSAH 8 – Wanamingo, Mantorville
	Cannon Falls	96.889	155.928	CSAH 24 west
		98.445	158.432	MN 19 – Cannon Falls, Northfield
Dakota	Hampton	106.056	170.681	MN 50 / MN 56 – Farmington, Kenyon
		107.158	172.454	CSAH 47 / Northfield Boulevard – Hampton
	Coates	113.982	183.436	CSAH 46
	Rosemount	115.950	186.603	CSAH 42 / 145th Street E – Rosemount
		117.753	189.505	MN 55 east – Hastings	Southern end of MN TH-55 overlap. Intersection northbound and interchange southbound
		118.669	190.979	117th Street
	Inver Grove Heights	121.338	195.275	CSAH 56 (Concord Boulevard)
		122.007	196.351	MN 55 west – Minneapolis	Northern end of MN TH-55 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
		122.854	197.714	80th Street East
		123.843	199.306	70th Street East
		125.073	201.285	Upper 55th Street East
		125.717	202.322	I-494 / MN 110	I-494 exit 66
	South St. Paul	126.453	203.506	Southview Boulevard, Mendota Road E
	South St. Paul–West St. Paul city line	127.384	205.005	Wentworth Avenue E, Thompson Avenue E
		128.386	206.617	Butler Avenue E
Ramsey	St. Paul	129.493	208.399	MN 156 / Concord Street, Cesar Chavez Street
		129.717	208.759	Eaton Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		130.398	209.855	Plato Boulevard, Fillmore Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		131.334	211.362	MN 5 / E 7th Street, Fort Road
		131.352	211.391	I-94 / US 10 to I-35E	I-94 exit 242D; southern end of I-94 overlap
Unmarked overlap with I-94 to North Dakota state line
Red River of the North		374.703	603.026	I‑94 / US 52 continue into North Dakota
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

Route map: Bing / Google

1. "Hwy 52 Interchange". Minnesota Department of Transportation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
2. "Lafayette Bridge - Hwy 52 Mississippi River Crossing". Minnesota Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
3. "Design-build on Hwy 52 in Rochester". Minnesota Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
4. "Electronic signs at Highway 52/County Road 9 go live on Jan. 20". Minnesota Department of Transportation. January 18, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
5. "Rural Unsignalized Intersections". University of Minnesota ITS Institute. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
6. Minnesota Department of Transportation (August 14, 2014). "Statewide Trunk Logpoint Listing" (PDF). St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2015-11-20.

• Steve Riner Details of Routes 51-75. The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Accessed March 24, 2007.
• Adam Froehlig US Route 52 Exit List Twin Cities Highways. Accessed August 5, 2007.
• Matt Salek US 52 Exits: SE Minnesota Upper Midwest Freeway Exit Guides. Accessed August 5, 2007.