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Minneapolis Freeway History

Started by bschultzy, July 06, 2018, 12:57:36 PM

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bschultzy

Am going through some old files at work, and came upon this map from the 60s of Minneapolis. Lots of good gems here, including proposed routings of I-94 through North Minneapolis, I-335, the SW Diagonal, and I-394.

What catches your eye?

EDIT: How do I post a photo? I've tried using the URL from Flickr as well as looked under attachments and other options to no avail. The photo is at: https://flic.kr/p/Ke32xk


Brandon

Quote from: bschultzy on July 06, 2018, 12:57:36 PM
Am going through some old files at work, and came upon this map from the 60s of Minneapolis. Lots of good gems here, including proposed routings of I-94 through North Minneapolis, I-335, the SW Diagonal, and I-394.

What catches your eye?

EDIT: How do I post a photo? I've tried using the URL from Flickr as well as looked under attachments and other options to no avail. The photo is at: https://flic.kr/p/Ke32xk

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

TheHighwayMan3561

The interchange at MN 55 and Penn. I'm trying to find when that was built and when it was returned to at-grade.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

bschultzy

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 06, 2018, 03:57:34 PM
The interchange at MN 55 and Penn. I'm trying to find when that was built and when it was returned to at-grade.

I had no idea that there was an interchange there before this either, but it makes sense given the ROW on the south side of Olson Highway. Looking at MHAPO (https://www.lib.umn.edu/apps/mhapo/), it seems like it was built after 1962 and gone by 1971.

bschultzy

Quote from: Brandon on July 06, 2018, 01:48:58 PM
Quote from: bschultzy on July 06, 2018, 12:57:36 PM
Am going through some old files at work, and came upon this map from the 60s of Minneapolis. Lots of good gems here, including proposed routings of I-94 through North Minneapolis, I-335, the SW Diagonal, and I-394.

What catches your eye?

EDIT: How do I post a photo? I've tried using the URL from Flickr as well as looked under attachments and other options to no avail. The photo is at: https://flic.kr/p/Ke32xk

Thanks!



froggie

There was never an interchange at 55 and Penn.  One was planned...and got as far as ROW acquisition (hence the wide space between Olson Hwy and the first houses to the south), but was never actually built.  It was part of an early idea to upgrade Olson Hwy to a freeway that died out in the mid-60s as it was deemed redundant and secondary to the idea of upgrading 12 (which finally happened 20 years later).

Regarding the map itself....given the cartography, the presence of an I-94 interchange at Lowry, and the configuration of the 94/335 interchange, I'd peg this map as early 60s....likely no later than '64.

mgk920

I'm kind of curious about that southwest freeway (diverging from modern-day I-394 several blocks west of I-94).  How serious was that proposal?

Also that north downtown loop.  That was the original plan, I assume.  ISTR that in the later 1970s and into the 1980s there was serious talk of routing it on a direct line along the railroad between the end of ultimately built I-394 and that proposed northeast side freeway between 2nd and 3rd Sts, with there to also be a direct ramp connection between that freeway to the east and the ultimately built (ex US 52) spur to the north.  Or am I dreaming on that one?

:hmmm:

Mike

MNHighwayMan

#7
Quote from: mgk920 on July 07, 2018, 11:02:26 AM
I'm kind of curious about that southwest freeway (diverging from modern-day I-394 several blocks west of I-94).  How serious was that proposal?

Also that north downtown loop.  That was the original plan, I assume.  ISTR that in the later 1970s and into the 1980s there was serious talk of routing it on a direct line along the railroad between the end of ultimately built I-394 and that proposed northeast side freeway between 2nd and 3rd Sts, with there to also be a direct ramp connection between that freeway to the east and the ultimately built (ex US 52) spur to the north.  Or am I dreaming on that one?

It's the first I've ever heard of it, and as such, I don't think it got very far at all.

The north downtown loop would eventually come to be known as I-335 and was eventually cancelled by local opposition. Furthermore, it was really of questionable usefulness in the first place.

froggie

Quote from: mgk920I'm kind of curious about that southwest freeway (diverging from modern-day I-394 several blocks west of I-94).  How serious was that proposal?

Serious enough to where ghost ramps existed at the 94 interchange (completed in 1971) until 12 was upgraded to 394 in the late '80s.  It began as the Southwest Arterial proposal from the mid-40s, then morphed into a "Highway 169 freeway" in the late '50s, complete with a cloverleaf interchange (!) with C/D roads at I-94 (at today's 94/394 interchange).  It was actually proposed as separate from MN 7 (which at the time would have become a freeway extension to the "28th St Expressway" across south Minneapolis) between France Ave and MN 100.  I believe it died out in the early '70s when planning began to focus on what became I-394.

Quote from: MNHighwayMan
Quote from: mgk920Also that north downtown loop.  That was the original plan, I assume.  ISTR that in the later 1970s and into the 1980s there was serious talk of routing it on a direct line along the railroad between the end of ultimately built I-394 and that proposed northeast side freeway between 2nd and 3rd Sts, with there to also be a direct ramp connection between that freeway to the east and the ultimately built (ex US 52) spur to the north.  Or am I dreaming on that one?

The north downtown loop would eventually come to be known as I-335 and was eventually cancelled by local opposition. Furthermore, it was really of questionable usefulness in the first place.

Yes, the North Loop became I-335 and would have been designated as such around the time I think this map dates from (335 was officially approved by BPR in 1964).  In my Twin Cities research, I found *NO* serious consideration of extending I-394 across the river to connect to the North Loop....it may have been suggested by some at the time, but it was never seriously looked at nor was it documented.

This map also shows version #2 or #3 of the North Loop and is also the only version that dipped down onto Nicollet Island.



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