Minnesota State Highway 26 (MN 26) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in southeastern corner of the U.S. state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. At in length, Highway 26 runs parallel to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and is a portion of the

Great River Road The Great River Road is a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through ten states of the United States. They are Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Miss ...

. The route begins at the

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

state line where it continues as

Iowa Highway 26 Iowa Highway 26 (Iowa 26) is a state highway that runs from south to north in Allamakee County, Iowa. It begins in Lansing at an intersection with Iowa Highway 9 at the Black Hawk Bridge and ends at the Minnesota border at New Albin. It contin ...

, and ends at an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with

Minnesota State Highway 16 Minnesota State Highway 16 (MN 16) is a two-lane highway in southeast Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with Interstate Highway 90 in Dexter and continues east to its eastern terminus at the Wisconsin state line concurrent with U.S. H ...

south of La Crescent.

Route description

State Highway 26 serves as a north–south route in southeast Minnesota between La Crescent, MN and Lansing, IA. The route follows a scenic path along the

; as such, it makes up a section of the

. Because it is located in the

Driftless Area The Driftless Area, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the last ...

, the Mississippi carved out a deep river valley, leaving high undulating bluffs which loom above the highway. Highway 26 is nestled between the base of the bluffs and the river channel. MN 26 begins at the

state line near

New Albin, Iowa New Albin is a city in Iowa Township, Allamakee County, Iowa, United States. It is the northeasternmost town in Iowa, located on the Mississippi River and the Minnesota border. The population was 432 at the time of the 2020 census. History New A ...

, where

continues across the border to the south. Immediately upon entering Minnesota, Highway 26 enters the Richard J. Dorer State Forest. For its first , Highway 26 borders the backwaters of the

, which lies to the east. Near

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

, the river widens at the pool behind Lock and Dam No. 8. Highway 26 continues north along the Mississippi River and the

Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad The Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad (IC&E) was a Class II railroad operating in the north central United States. It has been controlled by the Canadian Pacific Railway and operated as a part of its system since October 30, 2008. Formerly, th ...

line towards Brownsville. North of Brownsville, Highway 26 begins to turn inland away from the river. Six miles () north of Brownsville, Highway 26 ends at a

T intersection A three-way junction (or three-way intersection) is a type of road intersection with three arms. A Y junction (or Y intersection) generally has three arms of equal size coming at an acute or obtuse angle to each other; while a T junction (or T ...

with

, near the Root River and the city of La Crescent. The highway is defined as Route 198 in the Minnesota Statutes. It is not marked with this number.

History

Highway 26 was authorized April 22, 1933. It originally connected

Iowa Highway 182 Iowa Highway 182 (Iowa 182) is a state highway in the northwestern corner of Iowa. It begins at U.S. Highway 18 (US 18) in Inwood and ends at Iowa 9 southeast of Larchwood. The highway has been in the primary highway system s ...

and U.S. Highway 16. Iowa Highway 182 became

in 1969, and U.S. 16 became

in 1980. The roadway was gravel when marked. It was paved in 1948 except for the section between the bridge crossing Wildcat Creek and the crossing of an unnamed stream two miles to the north. This remaining portion was paved in 1949. In August 2007, parts of Highway 26 were washed away by flooding or covered by landslides caused by unusually heavy rains. Between of rain fell over a two-day period.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Highway 26 at ''The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page''
026 Transportation in Houston County, Minnesota 026