 Trunk Highway 61 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 MN 61 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byMnDOT | ||||
| Length | 150.321 mi[1] (241.918 km) | |||
| Existed | 1991–present | |||
| Tourist routes |  Lake Superior Circle Tour North Shore Scenic Drive | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  I-35 atDuluth | |||
| Major intersections |  MN 1 atIllgen City | |||
| North end |  Highway 61 atGrand Portage–Pigeon River Border Crossing | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Minnesota | |||
| Counties | St. Louis,Lake,Cook | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Minnesota State Highway 61 (MN 61) is a 150.321-mile-long (241.918 km)highway in northeastMinnesota, which runs from a junction withInterstate 35 (I-35) inDuluth at 26th Avenue East, and continues northeast to its northern terminus at theCanadian border nearGrand Portage, connecting toOntario Highway 61 at thePigeon River Bridge. The route is a scenic highway, following theNorth Shore ofLake Superior, and is part of theLake Superior Circle Tour designation that runs through Minnesota,Ontario,Michigan, andWisconsin.
This roadway was designatedU.S. Highway 61 (US 61) until 1991. US 61 ran from the Canadian border to New Orleans, and is the road to which musician and Duluth nativeBob Dylan referred in the album and songHighway 61 Revisited.
TheNorth Shore Scenic Drive is anAll-American Road scenic byway that followsSaint Louis County Road 61 /Lake County Road 61 / MN 61, formerly US 61, from the city ofDuluth, Minnesota, to the Canadian border nearGrand Portage. The route stays close to the rocky North Shore, offering spectacular vistas of the lake to the southeast as it skirts along the foothills of theSawtooth Range to the northwest.
MN 61 serves as a northeast–southwest route in northeast Minnesota betweenDuluth,Two Harbors,Silver Bay,Grand Marais, and theCanadian border.
21 miles (34 km) of MN 61 from Duluth to Two Harbors is a four-laneexpressway officially designated the Arthur Rohweder Memorial Highway. There are no markers on the highway showing this designation, but there is a plaque at a wayside.
The roadway is located close to and in many places next toLake Superior. Sights include forests, wildlife, cliffs, state parks, and a national monument.
Highway 61 passes through theSuperior National Forest and theGrand Portage State Forest inCook County.
The following state parks are located on Highway 61:
MN 61 starts on the northern end of Duluth and continues northeasterly towardsTwo Harbors, the first city outside Duluth and the largest city between Duluth and Grand Portage. MN 61 continues as a four-lane expressway through Two Harbors, then becomes two lanes. After Two Harbors, there are no towns for almost 30 miles (48 km), until reachingBeaver Bay, followed bySilver Bay. Afterwards, MN 61 passes a few state parks before reachingSchroeder, followed byTofte. After Tofte, the road toLutsen Mountains ski resort, County Road 5, meets with MN 61. The next town isLutsen, followed byCascade River State Park. About 18 miles (29 km) further along isGrand Marais, the second largest city after Two Harbors, and another 34 miles (55 km) along isGrand Portage; between the two isHovland. MN 61 bypasses Grand Portage to the west. The northern terminus for MN 61 is at the Canadian border, where it becomesOntario Highway 61 upon entering Canada at thePigeon River Bridge; the roadway continues toThunder Bay.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 U.S. Highway 61 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Wyoming, MN—Canadian border |
| Existed | 1926–1991 |
Minnesota Highway 61 was designated and signed in 1991. The roadway was originally part ofUS 61 from 1926 to 1991.
After construction ofI-35 in the 1960s, US 61 wasco-signed with I-35 until 1991. During that year, US 61 wasdecommissioned from theCanadian border south to its present-day junction with I-35 at the city ofWyoming nearForest Lake. The section of US 61 north of Duluth was redesignated MN 61 that same year.
MN 61 is one of three state marked highways to carry the same number as an existing U.S. Highway within the state; the others areMN 65 andMN 169.
From 1991 to 1997, MN 61 continued southwest on London Road beyond I-35 to 14th Avenue East, where southbound traffic then turned northwest to end atMN 23 which followed a one-way pair of 2nd Street East (eastbound) and 3rd Street East (westbound); northbound MN 61 began following 12th Avenue East south to London Road. Both routes were turned back to end at their respective I-35 junctions in Duluth in 1997.
MN 61, between Duluth and the Canadian border, was commissioned as part ofUS 61 in 1926, ready for use by 1929, and paved by 1940.
The section of MN 61 fromHovland to thePigeon River formerly ran inland, bypassing the community ofGrand Portage. The new highway alignment and border crossing were constructed in the early 1960s.
The MN 61expressway betweenDuluth andTwo Harbors was constructed inland in the 1960s. The state then turned over maintenance of the original US 61 between Duluth and Two Harbors toSaint Louis andLake counties. The two counties then redesignated this section as CR 61 or Scenic 61.
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis | Duluth | 1.471 | 2.367 |   I-35 south /LSCT / London Road / 26th Avenue | Southern terminus; I-35 exit 259; northern terminus of I-35; southern end of LSCT concurrency; road continues as London Rd. (formerUS 61 south) |
| 5.425 | 8.731 |    North Shore Scenic Drive (Scenic 61) /LSCT Spur to CSAH 61 | |||
| Lake | Two Harbors | 24.668 | 39.699 |  North Shore Scenic Drive (CSAH 61) /LSCT Spur | |
| Silver Bay |   CSAH 5 /FFH 11 (Superior National Forest Scenic Byway) | ||||
| Illgen City | 59.308 | 95.447 |  MN 1 west –Ely | Eastern terminus of MN 1 | |
| Little Marais | 65.271 | 105.043 |  Little Marais Road (CSAH 6) | ||
| Cook | Tofte | 82.682 | 133.064 |  Sawbill Trail (CSAH 2) | |
| Lutsen | 92.528 | 148.909 |  Caribou Trail (CSAH 4) | ||
| Grand Marais | 110.256 | 177.440 |  Gunflint Trail (CSAH 12) | ||
| Hovland | 128.867 | 207.391 |  Arrowhead Trail (CSAH 16) | ||
| Pigeon River | 150.870 | 242.802 | Grand Portage–Pigeon River Border Crossing | ||
| Highway 61 north /LSCT –Thunder Bay | Continuation into Canada; northern end of LSCT concurrency | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
Media related toMinnesota State Highway 61 at Wikimedia Commons
