Minnesota State Highway 39 (MN 39) is a short

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

in northeast

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 ...

, which runs from its

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

State Highway 23 Route 23, or Highway 23, can refer to: International * European route E23 Australia * Federal Highway (Australia) * Monaro Highway * (South Australia) * Dorat Road (not signed everywhere) Austria * Autobahn Südosttangente Wien Canada * Albe ...

(Commonwealth Avenue) in

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

and continues east to its eastern terminus at the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

state line (at the Oliver Bridge), where it becomes

Wisconsin Highway 105 State Trunk Highway 105 (often called Highway 105, STH-105 or WIS 105) is a east–west state highway in Douglas County, Wisconsin, that connects Oliver (at the Minnesota border at Duluth) with Tower Avenue in Superior. WIS 105 serve ...

upon entering the village of

Oliver, Wisconsin Oliver is a village in Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 399 at the 2010 census. Oliver is located west of the city of Superior and east of Gary – New Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota. Transportation Union Street ( Wi ...

. The east end of Highway 39 crosses the Saint Louis River to Wisconsin, over the double-deck

Oliver Bridge The Oliver Bridge is a bridge across the Saint Louis River. It was constructed in 1910 as a railway bridge by the Interstate Transfer Railway Company, a Wisconsin corporation, under special federal authorization from the 60th United States Congr ...

with a railroad track on the upper deck. Highway 39 is also known as ''McCuen Street'' in the Gary–New Duluth neighborhood of Duluth.

Route description

State Highway 39 serves as a short route between

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

and the village of

. Highway 39, together with Wisconsin Highway 105, are part of a east–west connector between the city of Superior, WI, Oliver, and the Gary–New Duluth neighborhood of

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. The route is legally defined as Legislative Route 213 in the Minnesota Statutes. It is not marked with this number.

History

Highway 39 was authorized on April 12, 1943. From 1958 to 1973, Highway 39 had continued farther west, extending over present-day State Highway 210 through

Jay Cooke State Park Jay Cooke State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, protecting the lower reaches of the Saint Louis River. The park is located about southwest of Duluth and is one of the ten most visited state parks in Minnesota. The western ...

to then-

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

(now State Highway 45) at

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

. The road deck on the Highway 39 / Highway 105

was originally a wooden deck. Modernization came in the year 2000 when both states' DOT (

WisDOT The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin responsible for planning, building and maintaining the :State highways in Wisconsin, state's highways. It is also responsible for plannin ...

and

MnDOT The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...

) cooperated with the

Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) , informally known as the Missabe Road, was a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that used to haul iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes ports of Duluth and Two Harb ...

to jointly fund a reconstruction of the roadway surface, which now features a stronger steel and reinforced concrete deck.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist

039 39 may refer to: * 39 (number), the natural number following 38 and preceding 40 * one of the years: ** 39 BC ** AD 39 ** 1939 ** 2039 * ''39'' (album), a 2000 studio album by Mikuni Shimokawa * "'39", a 1975 song by Queen * "Thirty Nine", a song ...

Transportation in St. Louis County, Minnesota