Minnesota State Highway 34 (MN 34) is a

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 west-central and north-central

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 9 (near

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

/ US Highway 52) in Barnesville and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with State Highways

200 __NOTOC__ Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 '' Ab ur ...

and 371 in

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

. The route is

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with

U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

for in Otter Tail and

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany it can also derive from the ...

counties near

Detroit Lakes Detroit Lakes is a city in the State of Minnesota and the county seat of Becker County. The population was 9,869 at the 2020 census. Its unofficial population during summer months is much higher, estimated by citizens to peak at 13,000 midsum ...

Route description

State Highway 34 serves as an east–west route between Barnesville,

, Park Rapids, and

in west-central and north-central Minnesota. Highway 34 passes through the Smoky Hills State Forest in Becker County between

and Park Rapids. The route passes through the

Chippewa National Forest Chippewa National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Minnesota, United States, in the counties of Itasca, Cass and Beltrami. Forest headquarters are located in Cass Lake, Minnesota. There are local ranger district offices i ...

in Cass County between Akeley and

. The western terminus for Highway 34 is its

with State Highway 9 in Barnesville, one mile from

/ US Highway 52.

History

State Highway 34 was established November 2, 1920. At this time, it ran from State Highway 2 (present-day U.S. 10) in Detroit Lakes to State Highway 8 (present-day U.S. 2) in Cohasset, west of

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

. By 1923, the road was graveled from Park Rapids to Walker and on a short section west of Cohasset; the remainder was unimproved. The entirety of the highway was graveled by 1930. The roadway was paved through most of Hubbard County in 1932. In 1933, the route was extended west, from Detroit Lakes to

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

and Minnesota State Highway 82 in Barnesville; it was rerouted on its east end, continuing eastward from Remer to U.S. 2 between Swan River and Floodwood. State Highway 6 replaced it north of Remer. The only paved portion of the highway extensions was the concurrency with then-State Highway 73 (now U.S. 59) from Dunvilla to Detroit Lakes. It was paved from Osage to the Becker-Hubbard county line in 1938 and from Osage to Ponsford in 1940. Paving was also done in 1938 west of Remer, and the remaining portion westward to Highway 87 in 1947. In 1941, the highway was realigned through Becker County. It now took a more direct route to Osage through Snellman, instead of traveling northward along the shore of Shell Lake, east through Ponsford, and southeast to Osage; the portion of this former routing from Ponsford eastward became State Highway 225 in 1949. The segment between the new alignment and Detroit Lakes was paved that year, and the realigned section was paved in 1946. The remaining portion from Highway 371 to Remer was paved in 1947, and the paving from Remer to Hill City was completed in 1950. The section of roadway between Barnesville and Dunvilla was paved in stages in the early 1950s: several miles east of Barnesville in 1951, from the Clay-Otter Tail county line to U.S. 59 in 1952, and the remainder in 1954. From Hill City to the Mississippi River near Jacobson was paved in 1957 and the remaining segment from Jacobson to U.S. 2 the following year; this completed the paving of the highway. In 1969, the portion of Highway 34 from U.S. 371 near Walker to U.S. 2 was renumbered as part of the newly-marked State Highway 200. In 2008, Highway 34 was expanded to a five-lane route through Park Rapids on its surface street alignment.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Highway 34 at the ''Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page''
034 Transportation in Clay County, Minnesota Transportation in Otter Tail County, Minnesota Transportation in Becker County, Minnesota Transportation in Hubbard County, Minnesota Transportation in Cass County, Minnesota