Minnesota State Highway 65 (MN 65) is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

in the east–central and northeast parts of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, which starts at its split from I-35W, skipping past the downtown Minneapolis core, only to resume at the

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 ...

with ''

Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to: United States * Washington Avenue (Miami Beach) in Miami Beach, Florida * Washington Avenue in Portland, Maine, a part of Maine State Route 26 * Washington Avenue (Milford Mill, Maryland) * Washington Avenue (Towso ...

'' (Hennepin County Road

152 Year 152 ( CLII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Glabrio and Homullus (or, less frequently, year 905 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 152 for th ...

) at the north end of downtown

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

to continue north to its northern terminus at its intersection with U.S. Highway 71 (US 71) in Littlefork near

International Falls International Falls (sometimes referred to as I-Falls) is a city in and the county seat of Koochiching County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,802 at the time of the 2020 census. International Falls is located on the Rainy R ...

. Highway 65 is a four lane expressway between

Interstate 694 Interstate 694 (I-694) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway located in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the US state of Minnesota. The western terminus of the route is at its junction with I-94, I-494, and US ...

(I-694) in Fridley to just north of State Highway 95 at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. The route continues as a two-lane roadway from Cambridge to its northern terminus at Littlefork in northern Minnesota. At in length, State Highway 65 is the third longest state route in Minnesota, after MN 23 and MN 1.

Route description

MN 65 serves as a north–south highway between

, Fridley, Blaine,

Mora Mora may refer to: People * José Maria Mora (1847–1926), Cuban-American photographer, often credited as "Mora" * Mora (singer) (born 1996), a Puerto Rican singer * Mora (surname), a Spanish name (includes a list of people with the name) Plac ...

, McGregor, Nashwauk, and Littlefork in east–central and northeast Minnesota. The roadway is one of three Minnesota state-marked highways to carry the same number as an existing U.S. Highway within the state; the others being MN 61 and MN 169. MN 65 begins at a split from I-35W south of downtown Minneapolis. The ramps end at an intersection with Tenth Street South, and so does the MN 65 designation, after MnDOT returned control of the section through downtown to the city in 2005. The MN 65 designation resumes at the intersection of Washington Avenue ( CR 152) and 3rd Avenue South at the north end of downtown

. MN 65 is signed locally as 3rd Avenue South in downtown Minneapolis. 3rd Avenue South leads to the Third Avenue (Mississippi River) Bridge and becomes Central Avenue upon crossing the river. After its intersection with

Hennepin Avenue Hennepin Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery (at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown, Minneapolis, Uptown District of Southwest Minneapolis, through the Virginia Triangle, the ...

, the route becomes Central Avenue NE. MN 65 is signed locally as Central Avenue NE for this section. Many Minnesota landmarks are located on Central Avenue NE including the Aveda Institute, the Heights Theater, and the

National Sports Center The National Sports Center (NSC) is a multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota. Its site includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a meeting and convention facility, an eight-sheet ice rink (the Super ...

. The route remains Central Avenue until separating in Ham Lake, except for a split in Fridley and Spring Lake Park between

I-694 Interstate 694 (I-694) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway located in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the US state of Minnesota. The western terminus of the route is at its junction with Interstate 94 in Minneso ...

and US 10. The route is a divided highway from Minneapolis to Cambridge, with a speed limit, increasing to speed limit beginning in Ham Lake, just outside Blaine. For part of its route (), MN 65 runs concurrently with MN 27 in Kanabec and Aitkin counties between

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

and Rice River Township.

Savanna Portage State Park Savanna Portage State Park is a state park in the U.S. State of Minnesota established in 1961 to preserve the historic Savanna Portage, a difficult trail connecting the watersheds of the Mississippi River and Lake Superior. The portage trail cr ...

in Aitkin County is located northeast of the junction of MN 65 and CR 14 in Shamrock Township near McGregor. The park entrance is located on CR 14 in nearby Balsam Township.

History

MN 65 was authorized in 1934 and 1935. The route was numbered as an extension of old US 65. By 1940, the route was paved from

to just north of McGrath in Aitkin County. By 1949, the route was paved as far north as Libby. By 1953, the route was paved north to its intersection with US 2 at Swan River in Itasca County. Sections of MN 65 north of US 2 were paved in the 1960s and 1970s. The last section of MN 65 paved was through the Nett Lake Indian Reservation in 2000. The expressway section of MN 65 between

in Fridley to Spring Lake Park was constructed on a new alignment in 1953. The MN 65 freeway bypass in

was completed . A portion of MN 65 used to be part of old US 65. US 65 still enters Minnesota from

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, but ends now in the city of Albert Lea, where it has a junction with

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

. I-35 and I-35W roughly follow the same route old US 65 used to take from Albert Lea to downtown Minneapolis. Before the freeways were built, the original US 65 had followed Lyndale Avenue between Burnsville and

. In July 2005, the eight-block-long section of MN 65 in downtown Minneapolis, between Washington Avenue and the junction of Tenth Street South with the on- and off-ramps to I-35W, was turned back to city maintenance. This turn-back leaves MN 65 with a gap through downtown. The ramps leading to and going from Minneapolis surface streets south to their junction with I-35W are still part of MN 65 according to state highway logs, and as indicated by the MN 65 shields used on the updated mileposts along those ramps. It was the last state highway (along with MN 55) to directly run through Downtown Minneapolis, ending a 70-year era in which state trunk highways would have a segment running directly through Downtown Minneapolis. MN 65 is designated as

Legislative Route In the United States, a legislative route (LR) or legislative highway is a highway defined by law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise d ...

105 between Washington Avenue and 37th Avenue Northeast, then as Constitutional Route 5 from Minneapolis to Swan River, then as Legislative Route 159 to Little Fork. The route is not marked with those numbers.

Cultural district

In 2020, Minneapolis officials designated a portion Central Avenue as one of seven cultural districts in the city. The district's boundaries were centered around the intersection of Central and Lowry avenues in the

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

and Windom neighborhoods, from 26th to 18th avenues northeast. The purpose of the cultural district was to promote racial equity, preserve cultural identity, and promote economic growth:

Major intersections

References

External links