On the former US 61 from St. Paul to Duluth, there are several sections of highway that were bypassed before Interstate 35 was built. I covered the complete highway in the Phototours Part 1 and Part 2, but here the abandoned sections are pulled out.
St Paul: Keller Park
On the North edge of St. Paul, part of US 61 is now an access road
Forest Lake
On the north side of Forest Lake the original routing of the highway stayed next to the railroad tracks, on 1st Ave Northwest. Here the original 18 foot pavement is still in service as a local street.
By contrast the old route route north of US 8 has been essentially lost to the elements. This is still highway right-of-way so is fair game for exurban explorers.
Stacy
n Stacy there is an abandoned section of road and bridge. Many bypassed segments have been reconstructed as local roads and are unrecognizable or just obliterated, But this and other segments survive because there’s no particular reason to spend money removing them.
he plaque is barely legible but it reads:
Minnesota
Highway Depart
Bridge No 4029
1925
Rush City
In Rush City the original highway followed Alger Ave. This didn’t even last into the paved Highway 61 era as the initial 1920s paving projected routed it one block to the west on Bremer Ave, (where there was already a much better bridge) where it remains. The old route is a not-up-to standards trail over a culvert.
On the north side of Rush City there is an abandoned section where a curve was straightened in the early 1960s. This one has reverted to private property so I didn’t get out and go exploring, though I figured the VFW Post wouldn’t mind me taking a quick photo from their parking lot.
Rock Creek
The junction at MN 70 was changed substantially in one of the last pre-intersate improvements. Highway 61 formerly made a jog to the east a half mile following MN 70, resulting in two sharp turns. In the early 1960s this was straightened out, leaving behind sections of the old road. The straight sections remain as local access roads- Fairview and Freedom Aves, but there were curves at each intersection that have been obliterated (west) or abandoned and just about reclaimed by the elements (east).
Mahtowa
Mahtowa is a tiny unincorporated town, but the name is interesting, from the Dakota “mahto” and Ojibwe “makwa”, both meaning bear. Originally the road went through the center of town, but it was soon bypassed to the west, then of course the bypass was bypassed with I-35. Here’s the old road in town:
Cloquet
Before the interstates were built, there was an effort to build expressways on key corridors. Highway 61 was built from the St. Paul city limits to White Bear Lake and from Cloquet to Duluth. In some cases these expressways got overlaid with the interstates, but here it was bypassed, resulting in an expressway provided for only 5000 vehicles a day. eventually one of the two bridges was removed at the city limits, leaving the remaining bridge for all traffic
Duluth
Closer to Duluth, there’s a rest area where since the beginning of the motoring era there was a stop here to admire the view. Later it was rebuilt in the WPA era, but as the freeway directly replaced the expressway it was now illegal and dangerous to stop here. The ruins are still visible though, and there is a modern version with the same view in the form of the Thompson Hill Rest area.
Here’s a modern view, taken from much higher as I can’t stand in the middle of the interstate
Backtracking up the hill from Cody Street and I-35 exists a commemorative plaque, a pre-interstate motel and a pre-expressway stretch of road, maintained as an informal hiking trail by area residents.
