Welcome!

This page is dedicated to rediscovering Minnesota's forgotten trunk highways and highway history, including both routes and the infrastructure left behind. The information on this site serves as a documentation of my personal research and travels in search of Minnesota Highway history. I am in no way affiliated with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, or any other organization.

If this is your first time here, I suggest taking a look at the site information for some background, the methods and sources I use to do my research, and my reasons for undertaking this project. For some basic information on Minnesota's Trunk Highway System, check out the Minnesota Highway Primer.

Featured Projects

U.S. 61: Minnesota - Updated February 16 , 2009

Old alignments, history, and pretty much everything else you'd ever want to know about Minnesota's most famous highway!

News and Updates

April 18, 2009

Yet another redesign! I decided to get rid of the side navigation bars for now, and replace them with a horizontal navigation bar at the top (kind of like the site was before the last redesign).

March 21, 2009

Big update over at The Map Collection! All pages are now in the new site format. A new article on the evolution of the official maps is up, plus map profiles for all maps between 1923 and 1961.

February 25, 2009

Check out the new Lost Minnesota Highways Blog!

January 18, 2009

After much internal deliberation, I've decided to take down the Dakota County Project, and move the lost highway articles therein to the "articles" section permanently. I felt that the project's concept was a bit flawed, and that I had seriously neglected it while I was working on the U.S. 61 project. Going back to improve it felt like moving backwards . However, I did add a couple of new photos to the article on the old alignments of Highway 13 at Mendota. From now on, projects will likely focus only on routes. The only section left to convert to the new design is the "maps" section, which I hope to complete in the next couple of weeks.

January 8, 2009

Its here!! The big U.S. 61 redesign is complete! Check it out!

November 18, 2008

Site updates continue! I've posted new versions of the site information and Minnesota Highway Primer.

November 16, 2008

So, you may have noticed that the front page of the site has been totally redesigned! This is the first step in a site-wide update that I hope will make things easier to navigate. The new layout is designed with monitors set to 1024 x 768 in mind, so you should be able to see the entire page if you have your browser window maximized. The site updates will continue gradually in the coming weeks (the rest of the site still uses the old design for now).

In other more exciting news, this site is mentioned in the sources and internet resources in Cathy Wurzer's new book "Tales of the Road: Highway 61"! I got to meet Cathy at a book signing a couple of weeks back, and I'd just like to say thanks for the mention and for being such a gracious host! If you get a chance, she still has a few more appearances lined up in the coming weeks / months. Also, check out her site for the book and upcoming documentary here.

Till next time, happy reading!

September 6, 2008

I just posted a huge update to the lost highway article on U.S. 61's old alignments on St. Paul's east side, with tons of new maps and photos! This marks a long awaited event for me - I finally have the entire U.S. 61 project updated to the "new standard", with a unified navigation system, old crappy maps eliminated, etc. I still have a bunch of old photos of modern U.S. 61 in St. Paul and down by Minneiska to post in the next week or so. Also, be on the lookout for new lost U.S. 61 photos soon! I went on an expedition between Weaver and Wabasha a couple of weeks back, and grabbed a ton of shots of the old concrete highways down there.

May 30, 2008

New photos for the U.S. 61 project are on the way! I was able to make a quick visit to a few old alignments north of Winona on the way back from my sister's college graduation a few weeks back. The photos for the old alignments at Minnesota City are now up. I have photos for two more old alignments on the way, so keep checking back over the next couple of weeks (Update, June 1, 2008 - These are now up, here and here)! Work on improvements to the U.S. 61 project are continuing, so some old links may seem broken. All the pages should still be up, so let me know if you find anything out of the ordinary.

April 10, 2008

Big updates at the U.S. 61 Project!! I've updated the format and organization, plus I've added Google Map functionality!

April 5, 2008

New site design is up! Most of the changes are cosmetic. The light text on a dark background design choice I made a few years ago was starting to bug me.