It was a dark and snowy night…

Don’t eat the orange snow. Distant municipal lights provide the mushroom-cloud effect. I took this picture by the side of US-45 in Michigan.

The US-41 bridge in Houghton, Michigan.

Oh, nothing to see here, just the last embossed cutout US shield in the wild. Both that and the M-203 date back to the 1930s, and have definitely been repainted several times.

The oldest shield in Wisconsin, complete with old-style CITY banner. This one, and one just like it further down the same road, date back to about 1958.

Sunrise on the third day, along US-51 in Wisconsin.

Somewhere over the midwest.

State-named shields in Minnesota are getting harder and harder to find.

Passing by the airport on our way out of town.

Wisconsin is not known for paying much attention to shield shape. This one is correctly identified as US-8, yet it appears in the triangle-and-rounded-rectangle state route outline. The “US” dates the sign to the 1970s.

Just several intersections away is this 1962-spec US-8 shield! Good old Barron County, which figures that if the sign was good enough for Kennedy, it’s good enough for you and me.

This is what a correct 1970s US-8 shield looks like.

This one? Not so much.

You guessed it – we’ve reached US-45.

Leave it to the moose to get it right.

The very last county road before the Michigan state line features this very old county route marker, made to a 1950s standard.

The very first reassurance marker features Michigan’s custom font.

We’re in nimrod country.

Snow-covered trees in the high beams.

Another view of the bridge in Houghton.

Grain elevator at sunrise.

Highway 41 heading into the sun.

Well, so much for getting drunk while getting clean.

An old embossed county marker still stands here.

Close-up of the old shield.

We’re back in Wisconsin now, and find this oddly-fonted assembly.

A somewhat older US-141 shield.

State-named I-43 shields float around, but aren’t all that easy to find. This assembly dates back to 1987.

I have no idea who is responsible for this one.

Here we go again mixing up state and US routes.

Somewhere just south of Green Bay.

This gantry is on the road coming off the US-10 ferry at Manitowoc.

Heading into sunset on US-10.

What’s hidden in that tree?

This classic shield is in Sheboygan.

Can’t all be winners.

Here is why we can’t find a state-named I-39 shield in Wisconsin: all the old trailblazers predate the number! Only I-90 trailblazers exist buried in towns.

What does Wisconsin seem to do a lot?

The other old US-14 shield.

Apparently, squirrels come in black outside of Washington, DC.

Squirrels, guide signs …

The state route shields with “WIS” date back to between 1962 and, officially 1982, though new ones still pop up on occasion.

Outline shield and inverse shield on the same gantry.

The only older style US-10 shield I found.

Two blocks over, we get this one.

The rustic route system follows everything from state highways down to goat paths.

One last state-named shield before the airport.

That’s all, folks!

I traveled across the Interstate 35W bridge northbound on April 23, 2007 and thought nothing of it. The superstructure of the bridge was hidden from view as I drove across what seemed to be an ordinary bridge…

A $15-million contract to remove the bridge debris was awarded to Carl Bolander & Sons Co. on August 8, 2007. Crews will use three cranes to lift the bridge deck segments which will be moved to a staging area for analysis by NTSB officials.

View looking westward from the Interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge. In the distance are the spans for the Central Avenue (Minnesota 65 / former U.S. 65) and Hennepin Avenue.

Commuters are advised to use Interstate 94 and Minnesota 280 to circumvent the bridge area of Interstate 35W. MnDOT blocked Minnesota 280′s intersections with County Road B, Broadway Street N.E., Walnut Street, and Roselawn Avenue in an effort to temporarily upgrade all of Minnesota 280 into a full freeway (Minnesota 280 existed previously as a freeway halfway between Interstate 94 and 35W). Interstate 35W is otherwise open for local traffic interests between Interstate 94 north to 3rd Street and Minnesota 280 south to 4th Street and University Avenue. See MnDOT’s detour map for more of an explanation.

Nearing the north end of the Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge on April 23, 2007.

MnDOT announced that it prefers to replace the collapsed bridge with a ten-lane wide span with pedestrian access. An emergency design-build contract will be issued as soon as possible for the bridge replacement.

Sources:

1. “I-35W bridge collapses over Mississippi River; 7 dead.” San Jose Mercury News, August 1, 2007.
2. “Bolander cranes readied to remove bridge debris,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 7, 2007.
3. Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, MN, MnDOT
4. “MnDOT wants new I-35W bridge to be 10 lanes, pedestrian-accessible,” Pioneer Press, August 7, 2007

Some additional photos and commentary about Twin Cities area roads:

Interstate 335 was conceptualized as a connector between Interstates 94 and 35W north of downtown Minneapolis. The short freeway would complete a central loop system in conjunction with Interstates 35W and 94 along an alignment roughly parallel to Broadway Street. Early proposals involved an at-grade expressway in the 1940s and a full freeway by the 1960s. Right-of-way purchasing commenced in the 1970s with initial ramp construction of the eastern terminus. Rising opposition mounted from local residents, ultimately curtailing the freeway officially in 1978.¹

Interstate 35W northbound on its departure from downtown Minneapolis. Pictured here is the Johnson Street off-ramp of Exit 21B. Slightly visible beyond the gore point, Exit 21B converges with the Exit 21A off-ramp to Broadway Street. A small area of pavement, a ramp stub, exists between the two ramps as a remnant of the unconstructed Interstate 335 eastbound on-ramp to Interstate 35W north.

Southbound at the Interstate 35 split into Interstate 35W to Minneapolis and Interstate 35E into St. Paul. A partial “Y” interchange joins facilities the movement at the split, similar to the south merge/partition.

Interstate 35E southbound sees a brief confluence with Interstate 94 in downtown St. Paul. U.S. 10 joins Interstate 35E between Interstate 694 and Interstate 94. U.S. 52 emerges from its cover here, as it leaves Interstate 94 at the adjacent interchange to the east for a freeway of its own. Interstate 35E transitions into a parkway south of Interstate 94, therefore trucks over 9,000 lbs. must find an alternate route to the south suburbs from downtown St. Paul.

U.S. 12 joins Interstate 94 four miles from the Minnesota state line in western Wisconsin. Wisconsin cosigns it consistently for its short overlap with Interstate 94 but as soon as the freeway spans the St. Croix River, U.S. 12 disappears. A small reassurance sign, similar to those used for U.S. highway overlaps with freeways in Indiana, directs motorists to remain on Interstate 94 west. U.S. 12 emerges from obscurity briefly at Interstate 394′s east end, but not wholly until west of the Interstate 394 and 494 junction.

Interstate 94 westbound at the south end of the Minnesota 280 (University Avenue) freeway. Minnesota 280 exists partially as a freeway and partially as a surface boulevard. Initially Minnesota 280 was a 1960s planned freeway in conjunction with the unconstructed 28th Street Expressway through south Minneapolis. Curving southwest from the Interstate 94 interchange, Minnesota 280 was to span the Mississippi River and travel along the railroad corridor parallel to 28th Street, ending at Minnesota 100 outside of the Minneapolis city limits.¹ Most of that railroad line is now part of Midtown Greenway line of the Twin Cities trail system.

Interstate 94′s Lowry Hill Tunnel opened to traffic in December of 1971.² The cut and cover tunnel passes underneath the intersection of Lyndale and Hennepin Avenues southwest of the Minneapolis central business district. Hennepin Avenue joins downtown with the Uptown district and acts as a gateway between the two areas.

A major construction project presently underway in the Twin Cities are is the rebuilding of the Interstate 35E and 694 confluence at Little Canada. Entitled “Unweave the Weave“, work involves rebuilding Interstate 35E and 694 so that the two freeways no longer share a stretch of common pavement. At present a pair of interchanges join the two highways, requiring a mile long cosigned section with three lanes in each direction. This stretch results in numerous weaving traffic movements by motorists remaining both on the respective freeway mainlines and those making exchanges between Interstate 35E and 694. Project work will eliminate the shared freeway by separating both freeways onto their own carriageways and connecting the four roadways with in dependant ramps, similar to what will be done at the Interstate 35W and Crosstown interchange in Minneapolis. Work commenced in early 2005 and should be completed by late 2008.

Approaching the Interstate 35E merge on Interstate 694 eastbound at the Long Lake Road diamond interchange. Work surrounding the “Unweave the Weave” project also involves rebuilding of aging bridges and the overall Interstate 694 freeway between Rice Street (Exit 45) and Minnesota 61 (Exit 48) and Interstate 35E freeway between Minnesota 36 (Exit 111) and County Road E (Exit 115).

Crosstown westbound at the split with U.S. 212′s westbound beginning, ahead of the full-cloverleaf interchange with U.S. 169. U.S. 169 constitutes a north-south freeway between Interstate 494 and Interstates 94 & 694, serving the western suburbs of Eden Prairie, Edina, St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Plymouth, New Hope, Maple Grove, and Brooklyn Park in the process. U.S. 212 follows a freeway of its own initially from the Crosstown southwest through Eden Prairie.

Work continues on extending the U.S. 212 freeway southwest to an overall length of 11.8 miles through Chanhassen, Chaska, and Carver. The route provides a suburban commuter freeway for far reaching suburbs of the Twin Cities metropolitan area and the U.S. 212 corridor westward to South Dakota. The MnDot project is known as “The New 212″, a $232 million endeavor whose planning began in the 1960s.

Current segments of the new freeway carry the temporary designation of Minnesota 312. Freeway construction began in August 2005 and by late 2006 Minnesota 312 extended west to Eden Prairie Road (Hennepin County 4). By next month Minnesota 312 expands westward another mile to the Dell Road partial cloverleaf interchange. Opening of the freeway westward to Powers Boulevard (Carver County 17) follows by Fall 2007.

Final completion of the project is scheduled for Fall 2008, bringing U.S. 212 onto a full freeway between Carver County 147 west of Chaska and the Crosstown at Edina. Further west, other projects follow that include upgrades of U.S. 212 to expressway standards and other enhancements are planned as part of the 212 Interregional Corridor.

Minnesota 77 (Cedar Avenue) south at the tied-arch bridge over the Minnesota River. Cedar Avenue exists as a surface street in Minneapolis and a freeway through Richfield, Bloomington, and Eagan. The commuter route serves the Mall of America complex at Interstate 494 and suburbs southward to Apple Valley. Initially open between the Crosstown and Interstate 494 in the 1960s, Minnesota 77 continued south across the Mississippi via this tied-arch bridge by 1980.³

Business Loop Interstate 35 south at junction Minnesota 60 in Faribault. This business loop was only signed in 2006 and follows Minnesota 21 (Lyndale Avenue) south from Exit 59 to junction Minnesota 60 (4th Street) and Lyndale Avenue (without Minnesota 21) south to Exit 55. The alignment follows old U.S. 65.

Interstate 35 south at the Clear Lake, Iowa Business Loop I-35. Clear Lake’s Business Loop travels west with U.S. 18 from Exit 194 to Iowa 107 (8th Street) south and 4th Avenue South eastbound back to Interstate 35 (Exit 193). Iowa 27 overlaps with Interstate 35 southward from the Minnesota state line to the U.S. 18 freeway at Exit 190. Iowa 27 represents the Avenue of the Saints, High Priority Corridor 2.

Sources:

1. Cancelled Highways – I-335 Minneapolis North Loop, Froehlig, Adam.
2. A History of Minneapolis: Intercity Transit and Highways (Part II), Minneapolis Public Library.
3. MN 77/CSAH 23  Cedar Ave, Froehlig, Adam.

While Minnesota 100 is a full freeway now, elements of its past as a lesser route remain in the form of old overpasses with no shoulders. One such span remains in place at the Minnesota 7 & Hennepin County 25 full-cloverleaf interchange. After a series of accidents, some fatal, Mn/DOT restriped the freeway mainline to provide limited acceleration lanes in place of a narrow shoulder at the overpasses, thus improving the situation from a safety standpoint. Before this improvement, drivers would come to a complete stop from the adjacent on-ramp, thus necessitating fast acceleration to freeway speeds while also dodging exiting traffic onto Minnesota 7 & Hennepin County 25.

Interstate 394, similar to a handful of other urban freeways, includes tunnels underneath buildings and other structures at downtown Minneapolis. Pictured here is the east end/beginning and one such building tunnel. Other freeways, such as the Cross-Bronx Expressway, Interstate 395 in Washington, D.C., Interstate 5 in Seattle, and the Georgia 400 Toll highway travel under such infrastructure.

Interstate 394 includes managed or HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes through its median. Tolled by MnPass, the lanes are reversible and feature variable toll rates based upon time of day and distance traveled. HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) cars and trucks are not levied tolls to use the lanes between Interstate 94 and Interstate 494. The I-394 MnPASS Express Lanes travel along the center of the freeway, similar to those found on Interstate 95 in northern Virginia.

Westbound on Interstate 94 at the Minnesota Road Research Project, a 3.5-mile stretch of multi-carriageway freeway devoted to the study and experimentation of pavement types. The site is the largest of its kind, providing an accurate portrayal of pavement types due to the ability to reroute Interstate 94 mainline traffic onto a carriageway with test pavement. Sensors embedded within the road measure the pavement performance and a 2004 average annual daily traffic count of 57,000 (according to Mn/Dot counts) provides plenty of opportunities for test results. The site is located between Exits 202 and 194.

Interstate 94 travels through majority farm land and open space between the Twin Cities and Fargo-Moorhead. Outside a few towns along the way, the freeway is devoid of services and substantial traffic. Moorhead provides a break in the monotony, and with it the only Business Loop for Interstate 94 in Minnesota. Business Loop I-94 ventures northwest of Exit 2 via Main Avenue (old U.S. 52) to junction U.S. 10 & 75 (8th Street). From there U.S. 10 joins Main Avenue and the Business Loop through downtown Moorhead into downtown Fargo, North Dakota. U.S. 10 & Business Loop I-94 end at the Interstate 94 Exit 343 partial “Y” interchange at West Fargo. With that stated, the only signs for Business Loop I-94 in Minnesota are posted at the intersection of Main Avenue and 8th Street.

Interstate 94 meanwhile widens to six lanes for the first time since Minneapolis at the North Dakota State line (Red River). The six-lane section extends westward to just beyond the interchange with Interstate 29 (Exit 349), a distance of approximately three miles. Interstate 29 meanwhile also expands to six lanes between Exit 62 and 65, with construction to widen the freeway northward to Exit 69 ongoing. U.S. 52, silent since its merge with Interstate 94 in St. Paul, emerges from its cover once Interstate 94 crosses the North Dakota state line. U.S. 81, Interstate 29′s counterpart for most of South Dakota, is fully signed throughout the Fargo area. Business U.S. 81 provides access to downtown Fargo from Interstate 29 in lieu of Business Loop Interstate 29.

A high-flyover ramp carries traffic from Interstate 29 & U.S. 81 south onto Interstate 94 & U.S. 52 east. The interchange otherwise is that of a full cloverleaf interchange. Minneapolis represents the eastbound control city for Interstate 94 from Interstate 29 south; northbound travelers see Moorhead as the eastbound destination.

Back in Moorhead, U.S. 10 joins U.S. 75 for a short overlap along 8th Street and Center Avenue east of downtown Moorhead. Pictured here are the first set of signs posted for their overlap along Center Avenue, east of the intersection with 14th Avenue.

Interstate 29 & U.S. 81 quickly depart the Fargo area for wide open prairies and farm fields. The major town of significance in southeast North Dakota is Wahpeton, a community of 8,586. North Dakota 13 constitutes a four-lane divided highway between Interstate 29 (Exit 23) and the North Dakota 210 & Minnesota 210 bypass of town. A trumpet interchange joins the two state highways there and a six-ramp partial-cloverleaf interchange facilitates the movements between the state highway and freeway.

Continuing southward into South Dakota, U.S. 81 remains hinged with Interstate 29 through to Exit 180. The drive is otherwise the same as North Dakota: lots of open prairie and farm land. One change occurs on the approach to Sisseton (junction South Dakota 10), as hills arise on the southeastern horizon. A paltry 4,680 vehicles per day traveled Interstate 29 between Exits 242 and 232 as of 2006 SDDOT traffic counts. The water depicted here is a misnomer as 2.5 inches of rain fell on the Dakotas the day before.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is one of several metropolitan areas that institute the use of ramp meters. The premise of such meters is to limit the amount of merging traffic during peak hours of traffic. Whether they work or not is a question that many drivers debate. However there are benefits to through traffic movement when the number of cars merging at once is reduced from 20 or more at a time to two or three at a time. One issue that I have with the Minneapolis area ramp meters is that they include freeway to freeway connections, such as the one pictured here along the ramp from Minnesota 100 south onto Interstate 494 west. So in a sense a high-speed connection becomes an off-ramp with a stoplight.

Adam Froehlig has a master list of cities that use ramp meters. Thus far we’ve come across ramp meters in Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and Metro Philadelphia among other locations. Los Angeles is the only other city that I know of that implements ramp meters on freeway to freeway connection.

The Twin Cities are one of two areas in the country to retain suffixed Interstate highways (Dallas-Fort Worth being the other). Interstate 35 splits into Interstate 35W through Minneapolis and Interstate 35E through St. Paul. Interstate 35E retains Interstate 35′s mile based exit numbers, while Interstate 35W’s mileage starts at zero (this is similar to Dallas Fort-Worth’s as well). Although AASHTO mandated that all suffixed Interstate numbers be changed to remove the alpha character, both the Twin Cities and DFW could not compromise as to which would get Interstate 35 and which would get a I-x35. Thus two sets of Interstate 35E and 35W remain.

Interstate 35E through St. Paul is unusual in that it includes a truck restriction for vehicles over 9,000 lbs and has a speed limit set at just 45 mph. For years residents south of downtown St. Paul fought the coming of Interstate 35E and the compromise struck for its construction entailed a number of facets. The freeway built will blend into its settings in a parkway like format, be restricted from heavy truck traffic between Minnesota 5 and Interstate 94, and have a mandated 45-mph speed limit. Trucks entering the Twin Cities via Interstate 35E are alerted to use Interstate 494 around the restricted section of Interstate 35E. Thanks to Charles Abel for the background on this; for more see Adam Froehlig’s I-35E South Metro (inside the Beltway)

Entering the final section of Interstate 35E to open to traffic in St. Paul. 45 mph speed limit signs abound and the freeway definitely resembles a parkway with a graceful adaptation to its surroundings.

Once in downtown St. Paul, Interstate 35E merges briefly with Interstate 94 north of the central business district. A depressed freeway carries the two highways a half mile or so, allowing a short amount of time for drivers to make their lane changes for the forthcoming split. U.S. 10 tags along via Interstate 35E north of Interstate 94, and Interstate 94 east of Interstate 35E. U.S. 52 is also here in silent fashion, following Interstate 94 from a point nearby all the way to the North Dakota state line.

Minneapolis has more substandard interchanges and bad weave situations between two freeways than any other metropolitan area I have witnessed in my opinion. One such problem spot is the touch and go merge between Interstate 35W and the Crosstown (Minnesota 62). Minnesota 62, locally known as the Crosstown Highway, serves the south suburbs, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and southern reaches of Minneapolis. Interstate 35W of course is the main north-south artery between downtown and Richfield, Bloomington, and other south side suburbs.

Interstate 35W and Minnesota 62 join for three quarters of a mile along the Minneapolis and Richfield city lines. Travelers must negotiate a tight series of ramp merges, some on the left, complicated with heavy traffic during peak hours. On the westbound Crosstown for instance, drivers are relegated to one through lane at the merge with Interstate 35W and then must move over two lanes to the right to continue on Minnesota 62 west to Edina.

To address these issues, Mn/DOT will reconstruction the junction and eliminate the short weave between the two freeways. Crosstown travelers will travel along a new set of roadways parallel to the Interstate 35W mainline, with new ramps joining the two. New carriageways will be built on the outside of the existing Interstate 35W & Minnesota 62 lanes and the Interstate 35W mainline expands to six overall lanes with two HOV-dedicated lanes. Mn/DOT plans to award a $282-million construction contract in June. Project web site: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/projects/crosstown/

Traveling along Interstate 35W north at the Exit 10B left-hand off-ramp onto the Crosstown westbound. Minnesota 62 travels over Interstate 35W and briefly merges from the right ahead of the Linsdale Avenue on-ramp. Shortly thereafter, Crosstown eastbound drivers depart via Exit 11B.

Approaching downtown Minneapolis on Interstate 35W from the south. Interstate 35W, like Interstate 35E, shares a brief overlap with Interstate 94 in downtown. The two share 0.8-miles of freeway. Exit 16A provides a direct route into downtown via unsigned Minnesota 65, a short freeway spur between Interstates 35W & 94 and the 4th & 5th Avenue couplet at 10th Street. Minnesota 65 represents the former alignment of U.S. 65 through the Twin Cities. The state highway portion used to travel wholly from Interstate 35W northward through downtown to the Mississippi River bridge and Central Avenue. In 2005 a section of Minnesota 65, between 10th Street and 3rd & /Washington Avenues in downtown Minneapolis, was decommissioned. That leaves two segments of Minnesota 65: the signed portion from Washington Avenue northward and the unsigned freeway spur from Interstate 35W & 94.

Spanning the Mississippi River is the Hennepin Avenue concrete suspension bridge. Built in 1990, the six-lane span carries Hennepin Avenue northeast from downtown Minneapolis to Main Street along the east banks of the Mississippi.

An unusual roadway in the downtown Minneapolis area is Washington Avenue leading east through the University of Minnesota campus. The four-lane avenue travels underneath part of the University of Minnesota campus, including the West Bank Skyway (pictured here). Aerials display what appears to be a covered walkway above the Washington Avenue Bridge as it spans the Mississippi River.

As written about in a previous post, the West Dodge Road freeway is now wholly complete between U.S. 275 and Interstate 680. The final portion of this project are the twin viaducts carrying U.S. 6 high above the original West Dodge Road between 132nd Street and Interstate 680. The elevated roadways are dubbed the U.S. 6 Express Lanes while the original West Dodge Road continues below as an at-grade facility, serving movements to 120th Street, 114th Street, and the Old Mill area.

U.S. 6 splits with West Dodge Road for a pair of six-lane viaducts west of the 120th Street intersection. Before construction of the elevated roadways, West Dodge Road met 120th Street at a diamond interchange. That interchange was removed and replaced with an at-grade intersection.

Soaring above West Dodge Road within the vicinity of Old Mill. A folded-diamond interchange remains in use between the original West Dodge Road below and 108th Street. U.S. 6 travels uninterrupted above into the directional-cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 680. U.S. 6 transitions back into a surface arterial east of the Westroads Mall interchange.

Interstate 29 and 680 join for ten miles between Crescent and Loveland in western Iowa. Interstate 680 provides a more direct route to north Omaha from Iowa and points east. The route was originally planned as Interstate 280 and 80N. Since there was already an Interstate 280 at Quad Cities, Interstate 280 later became Interstate 680. Exit 72 serves a decommissioned Iowa state highway. The state of Iowa decommissioned a series of state highways in 2003. For the list, see Jason Hancock’s Iowa Highways Page.

All signs along Interstate 29 northbound still display “I-129″ in text at the Exit 144 interchange with Interstate 129, U.S. 20, and U.S. 75. Interstate 129 forms a short Interstate highway leading west from I-29 to the U.S. 75 merge with U.S. 77 in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Signs along I-29 southbound properly display Interstate 129 shields. The only other instance that we can recollect where and Interstate is written out in text was at the Interstate 26 eastbound split with Interstate 126 in Columbia, South Carolina.

U.S. 75 southbound leaves its original alignment at Sioux City for a freeway bypass to the east and south. Pictured here is the southbound beginning of the freeway and split with U.S. 75 Business at Exit 99. Despite what may just be rumors of a Sioux City beltway (also referred to in the roadgeek circles as Interstate 429), no provisions could be found at the north end of the U.S. 75 freeway for a westward extension to Interstate 29 in South Dakota. Instead U.S. 75, and later U.S. 20, travel a rural to suburban freeway over rolling hills east of the city, meeting Interstate 29 at Interstate 129 opposite the Missouri River. U.S. 20 follows the freeway and overtakes the exit numbering convention from Gordon Drive (Exit 4) southwest to Nebraska.

Further north at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Interstates 29 and 90 converge with Interstate 229 providing an urban loop east of downtown. All three freeways have Business routes into the urban core, but what is different about these than others, is that they are mostly are signed as “Downtown Loop” and “Downtown Spur”. Pictured here is the southbound beginning of Downtown Spur I-90 and its cosigning with South Dakota 115. The Business route follows Cliff Avenue southward from Interstate 90 Exit 399 to 10th Street (Downtown Loop I-229 & South Dakota 42).

Interstate 229 drops below grade on the approach to Exit 6 with Business Spur I-229 & South Dakota 42. The loop serves interests to downtown from its business loop and commuting interests to Interstate 29 and 90. South Dakota DOT is studying the concept of constructing a second loop for the Sioux Falls area further east and south than Interstate 229. Dubbed South Dakota 100 or the Sioux Falls Eastside Corridor, the expressway would travel east from Interstate 29 near Tea (Exit 73), curve northeast to South Dakota 11 at 57th Street, and than northward to Interstate 90 at Exit 402. The project web site touts the road as a limited access highway, but in fact only two of the intersections are planned as full interchanges along the highway. A SPUI is planned at the Benson Road extension south of Interstate 90, and SPUI’s may or may not be used at both Interstate 90 and 57th Street. If a SPUI is not built at 57th Street, than a folded-diamond interchange will be used instead.

Hitting a few towns along the way such as Worthington, Jackson, and Fairmont , Interstate 90 travels through farm country throughout southwest Minnesota. The first of three Minnesota Business Loops departs Interstate 90 at Worthington. Following Nobles County 25 (Diagonal Road), Business Loop I-90 travels south into town between Exits 42 and 45, roughly following the original routing of U.S. 16. Minnesota sometimes signs their county highways with white boxes and black text and other times with purple pentagons with white text. A few exceptions occur in the Minneapolis area where standard pentagons with yellow text are used. North Dakota borrows the white box concept along exit signs on Interstate 29 as well.

Older signs still grace the sign bridges along Interstate 90 at Interstate 35 near Albert Lea. The two interstates join one another at a full-cloverleaf northeast of town. A short distance to the south are the ends of U.S. 65 and U.S. 69 at Albert Lea. The otherwise rural junction of the freeways lies 80 miles south of the Twin Cities metro area, an area I’ll cover extensively in the next series of posts.