Minnesota State Highway 15

"MN 15" redirects here. MN 15 may also refer to MN 15 (biostratigraphic zone).

Trunk Highway 15
Route information
Maintained by Mn/DOT
Length:	154.322 mi (248.357 km)
Existed:	1920 – present
Major junctions
South end:	IA 15 at Minnesota - Iowa state line
	I-90 at Fairmont MN 30 near Lewisville MN 60 at Madelia U.S. 14 , MN 68 at New Ulm MN 19 at Winthrop U.S. 212 near Brownton MN 7 , MN 22 at Hutchinson U.S. 12 at Dassel MN 24 , MN 55 at Kimball I-94 at St. Cloud MN 23, CR 75 at St. Cloud
North end:	U.S. 10 at Sauk Rapids Twp.
Location
Counties:	Martin, Watonwan, Brown, Nicollet, Sibley, McLeod, Meeker, Stearns, Benton
Highway system
Minnesota Trunk Highways Interstate • U.S. • State Inter-County • County roads • Legislative routes ← US 14 MN 16 →

Minnesota State Highway 15 is a highway in south-central and central Minnesota, which runs from Iowa Highway 15 at the Iowa state line and continues north to its northern terminus at its interchange with U.S. Highway 10 outside of Sartell and Sauk Rapids, north of St. Cloud.

Highway 15 is 154 miles (248 km) in length.

Route description

State Highway 15 serves as a north–south route between Fairmont, Madelia, New Ulm, Hutchinson, and St. Cloud in south-central and central Minnesota.

Highway 15 parallels State Highway 4 throughout its route in south-central and central Minnesota.

Flandrau State Park is located near Highway 15 in Brown County on the Cottonwood River. The park is located just south of New Ulm.^[1]

St. Cloud area

Highway 15 is a four-lane highway on the west side of St. Cloud from Interstate Highway 94 to U.S. Highway 10. Highway 15 crosses the Bridge of Hope at the Mississippi River between Sartell and Sauk Rapids.

In the 1970s, Highway 15 through the St. Cloud area was planned to be constructed as a freeway, providing a high-speed connection between I-94 and U.S. 10. However, funding fell short of completing the freeway beyond Highway 23 / County Road 75 (2nd Street South). As a result, it was eventually decided that right-of-way needed to build interchanges would be sold off so the remaining segment of Highway 15 across the Mississippi River, connecting to U.S. 10, could be built. Therefore, from 2nd Street South to U.S. 10, the highway is currently built as an expressway with signalized intersections.^[2] As of now, Highway 15 is able to serve traffic, with stretches posted at a 60 mph (97 km/h) speed limit. However, continuing increases in traffic in the St. Cloud area will require the highway to be eventually converted to a freeway in the long term (post 2030).

History

State Highway 15 was authorized in 1920, 1933, and 1950.

The section of Highway 15 between New Ulm and the Iowa state line was originally Minnesota Constitutional Route 15, dating back to 1920.

The section of Highway 15 between St. Cloud and Kimball was originally part of Minnesota Constitutional Route 24.

The middle section of Highway 15 was authorized in 1933, the northernmost section in 1950. This northerly section was originally part of old State Highway 152 and was routed through downtown St. Cloud. Now, it bypasses central St. Cloud to the west side of town.

By 1940, only two short gravel sections of Highway 15 remained, both paved by 1953.

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
Iowa-Minnesota state line		0.000	Iowa 15
Martin	Fairmont	12.351-12.367	I-90	Interchange
Watonwan	Antrim Township	27.276	MN 30 east	South end of MN 30 overlap
	Fieldon Township	33.380-33.442	MN 30 west MN 60 west and north	Interchange; north end of MN 30 overlap South end of MN 60 overlap
	Madelia Township	37.513-37.559	CR 9	Interchange
		38.776	CR 3	Interchange
		39.174-39.228	MN 60 east	Interchange; north end of MN 60 overlap
Brown	Linden Township	45.354	MN 257
	Cottonwood Township	54.635	MN 68 east	South end of MN 68 overlap
	New Ulm	58.862	US 14 / MN 68 west	North end of MN 68 overlap south end of U.S. 14 overlap
		U.S. 14 103.111-103.235	Front Street	Interchange
Nicollet	Courtland Township	60.252	U.S. 14 east	North end of U.S. 14 overlap
Sibley	Winthrop	76.546	MN 19
McLeod	Sumter Township	89.155	U.S. 212
	Hutchinson	101.286	MN 7 / MN 22
Meeker	Dassel	115.079	U.S. 12
	Kingston Township	126.028	MN 24	South end of MN 24 overlap
Stearns	Kimball	131.529	MN 55 / MN 24	North end of MN 24 overlap
	St. Cloud	145.059-145.079	I-94	Interchange
		149.066-149.074	MN 23 west, CR 75 east (2nd Street South)	South end of MN 23 and CR 75 overlap
		149.310-149.318	MN 23 east, CR 75 west (Division Street)	North end of MN 23 and CR 75 overlap
Mississippi River		153.940-154.263	Bridge of Hope
Benton	Sauk Rapids	152.929	CR 33 (Benton Drive)	Interchange
	Sauk Rapids Township	154.322	U.S. 10	Partial interchange: MN 15 north enters U.S. 10 west MN 15 south enters from U.S. 10 east
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi      Concurrency terminus •      Closed/Former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened

References

1. ^ "Flandrau State Park". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/flandrau/index.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
2. ^ Minnesota Department of Transportation. "Project Study: Highway 15 - St. Cloud Metro". District 3 Local News & Project Studies. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20071016221149/http://dot.state.mn.us/d3/projects/hwy15stc/. Retrieved 2007-11-23.