US 10 in Minnesota
US 10 | |||
Get started | Moorhead | ||
End | Prescott | ||
Length | 282 mi | ||
Length | 454 km | ||
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According to ablogtophone, US 10 is a US Highway in the US state of Minnesota. The road forms a diagonal east-west route in the center and north of the state and runs from the North Dakota border at Fargo through the Minneapolis metropolitan area to Prescott at the Wisconsin border. Most of the route is a 2×2 divided highway with two longer highway sections in the north and southeast of the Minneapolis-St. Paul. The total route is 454 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 10 between Moorhead and Detroit Lakes.
US 10 at Becker, east of St. Cloud.
Northern Minnesota
The road begins in the suburb of Moorhead on the border with North Dakota and then continues east in 2×2 lanes. However, it is not a highway. This area consists of meadows with small forests. After 70 kilometers you reach the town of Detroit Lakes, where you cross the US 59. The road then bends to the southeast and then also has 2×2 lanes with level crossings. After another 70 kilometers you reach the village of Wadena where the US 71crosses. After 40 kilometers, US 10 turns south towards Little Falls, arriving after 50 kilometers. It crosses the Mississippi River here and US 10 forms a short freeway around the town of Little Falls. After another 50 kilometers you reach the town of St. Cloud, from where US 10 runs parallel to Interstate 94 and the Mississippi River. In Elk River you cross US 169.
Minneapolis-St. Paul
One then reaches the first suburbs of Minneapolis and from Anoka the US 10 becomes a highway with 2×2 lanes. Then you come to Coon Rapids. This is where SR-610 turns to Brooklyn Park to the west. You then pass through Blaine, a suburb that has its own airport. US 10 continues to have 2×2 lanes thereafter, then merges into Interstate 35W, the western branch of I-35 through the metropolitan area.
US 10 is then double-numbered with several roads, first I-35W, then the northern ring road Interstate 694 and then I-35E as far as St. Paul. This is followed by a short stretch of I-94 before US 10 exits east of St. Paul and forms a regular main road with 2×2 lanes. One then crosses the southern ring road Interstate 494 and in the suburb Cottage Grove the US 10 forms a short highway. Then the road continues for a few more miles to the Wisconsin border formed by the Mississippi River.
History
According to beautyphoon, US 10 was created in 1926. The route of US 10 has not changed significantly, but the entire route has been upgraded to a divided highway or freeway. In 1929 the section between St. Cloud and St. Paul was paved, but it would take until 1950 before the entire route was paved. As early as 1942, the first divided highway section opened between Elk River and Anoka. By the 1980s, most of it had been widened into a divided highway, with some short sections of US 10 still short of 4 lanes in the late 1980s.
Twin Cities
In the early 1970s, the first section of US 10 was opened in Anoka, in the north of the Twin Cities. The remainder of the route to I-35W was gradually converted to a grade-separated highway during the 1980s and 1990s. This process was completed in 1999. By 1984 the section had been leveled at Cottage Grove in the south east of the conurbation.
As of 2015, US 10 in Anoka and Ramsey was gradually transformed from a 2×2 divided highway with traffic lights to a grade-separated freeway. In 2016, a grade-separated connection with Armstrong Boulevard opened.
Traffic intensities
The highway section in Anoka is immediately quite busy with 72,000 vehicles in 2×2 lanes. This increases to 93,000 in Coon Rapids and then drops to 78,000 vehicles off I-35W.
US 12 in Minnesota
US 12 | |||
Get started | Ortonville | ||
End | Lakeland | ||
Length | 196 mi | ||
Length | 315 km | ||
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US 12 is a US Highway in the US state of Minnesota. The road forms an east-west connection in the south of the state and runs from Ortonville on the border with South Dakota through the largest city of Minneapolis and capital St. Paul to the Wisconsin border at Lakeland. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul, the highway is double-numbered with I-394 and I-94.
Travel directions
Western Minnesota
US 12 in South Dakota comes from Aberdeen and crosses the Minnesota River at Ortonville, which forms the border between South Dakota and Minnesota. In Ortonville one also crosses the US 75. Then follows a 75-mile stretch to Willmar, a single-lane route through the flat prairies of western Minnesota. There is only one small town on this route, Benson. In Willmar, the road leads through the center and crosses US 71 on the east side of the town.
After Willmar, another 120-kilometer route follows to the suburbs of the Minneapolis region. This is also a single carriageway which passes through considerably more towns on this stretch, but does not cross any major other roads. The landscape here remains flat and mainly agricultural, with some more vegetation closer to Minneapolis and gradually some exurban developments in the area. The exurbs gradually merge into the suburbs of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis-St. Paul
From the western suburb of Long Lake, US 12 becomes a freeway. The highway soon has 2×3 lanes and after 8 kilometers it reaches the ring road of the conurbation, Interstate 494. From here, US 12 becomes Interstate 394 to downtown Minneapolis. US 12 is then double numbered with I-394 and from Minneapolis via St. Paul to the Wisconsin border with Interstate 94.
History
US 12 was created in 1926. In the late 1920s, only a few short sections were paved, namely in the Twin Cities region and around Willmar. In the 1930s, the route was rapidly paved, which was completed in 1940.
Twin Cities
The highway section in the western suburbs opened during the 1970s. Originally, the route further into downtown Minneapolis was also US 12, but this was converted to I-394 during the 1980s and 1990s. Also, US 12 east of St. Paul to the Wisconsin border was still a traffic light road until 1985, and was converted to I-94 in 1985, the last part of I-94 to be completed. Between 2006 and 2008 a super two was built around Orono and Long Lake.
Traffic intensities
The highway section west of the I-494 ring road has a maximum of 78,000 vehicles per day.