61sign U.S. Highway 61 - Concrete Paving Project Timeline, 1921-1939

oldconcrete
A surviving stretch of 18-foot wide concrete south of
Weaver in Wabasha County. This concrete was laid in
1925 as part of the construction of State Route 3, one
year before U.S. 61 was first marked.
The following is a timeline of the early concrete (and asphalt on concrete) paving projects conducted by the Minnesota Department of Highways along U.S. 61. Dates generally refer to the year of contract completion given on the highway construction project logs. Projects for each year are listed from south to north. Each paving project is labeled with the region of U.S. 61's route it was contained in (SE, C, or NE).

Concrete pavement was generally used on the more important early highways in Minnesota, including on nearly all of U.S. 61's route between the Wisconsin state line and Two Harbors (the remainder of the highway along the north shore was paved with asphalt or bituminous pavement.) The original standard concrete pavement design was 18 feet wide. The highway department switched to a 20 foot standard in 1929. The original design was done away with in the late 30's - the last standard design concrete pavement constructed on U.S. 61 was on the hill west of Red Wing in 1939.

The largest burst of paving activity occurred between 1925 and 1927, with 1926 having the most miles paved (92.14 miles). None of the original era concrete pavement is in use as a trunk highway today - all of it has been bypassed by more modern roads or paved over.

Timeline

1920

Total: 5.33 miles.

1921

Total: 5.48 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 0.10 miles. C: 5.38 miles.

1922

Total: 1.24 miles.

1923

Total: 12.66 miles. Breakdown by Region - C: 4.75 miles. NE: 7.91 miles.

1924

Total: 19.72 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 5.24 miles. C: 14.48 miles.

1925

Total: 39.99 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 29.73 miles. C: 10.26 miles.

1926

Total: 92.14 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 21.39 miles. C: 70.75 miles.

1927

Total: 60.67 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 23.7 miles. C: 36.97 miles.

1929

Total: 18.95 miles. Breakdown by Region - SE: 10.6 miles. NE: 8.35 miles.

1931

Total: 13.78 miles.

1932

Total: 7.91 miles.

1936

Total: 16.22 miles.

1937

Total: 1.35 miles.

1939

Total: 2.72 miles.

Geographic Timeline (South to North)

Paving projects that replaced earlier concrete pavements are in bold. Explanations of the replacements follow in italics.

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