Minnesota State Highway 115 Explained

State:MN
Type:MN
Route:115
Map Custom:yes
Map Notes:MN 115 highlighted in red
Established:April 22, 1933
Length Mi:8.736
Tourist: Great River Road
Section:115
Subsection:62
Direction A:West
Direction B:East
Terminus B: at Camp Ripley Junction in Ripley Township
Junction: at Green Prairie Twp.
Counties:Morrison
Previous Type:MN
Previous Route:114
Next Type:MN
Next Route:117

Minnesota State Highway 115 (MN 115) is a 8.736-longNaN-long highway in central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with U.S. Highway 10 in Randall and continues east to its eastern terminus at its interchange with Highway 371 at Camp Ripley Junction in Ripley Township near the city of Little Falls.

Route description

State Highway 115 serves as an east - west route in central Minnesota between the communities of Randall, Camp Ripley, and Ripley Township.

The route passes by the entrance of, and therefore serves, the Camp Ripley Military Reservation; north of the city of Little Falls. A portion of Highway 115 serves as the southern border for Camp Ripley.

Highway 115 crosses the Mississippi River near its junction with Highway 371. The bridge also carries a railway line on the same surface as the road deck; this is the only remaining bridge over the Mississippi configured in this way.[1]

The route is legally defined as Route 131 in the Minnesota Statutes.[2] It is not marked with this number.

History

State Highway 115 was authorized on April 22, 1933.

The route was paved by 1942.

The Camp Ripley Bridge carries both the highway and the railroad spur to Camp Ripley over the Mississippi River. It was built in 1930 and rebuilt in 1998.

Before nearby Highway 371 was rebuilt as a four-lane freeway on its new alignment between the city of Little Falls to just north of Camp Ripley Junction, the eastern terminus of Highway 115 at Highway 371 was previously a 3-way "Y" intermixed with railroad tracks. With construction on the new Highway 371 being complete in the early 2000s, Highway 115 now ends at an interchange with Highway 371, with the roadway continuing eastbound as Morrison County Road 47 (which was re-aligned to connect to the new interchange). The old routing of Highway 371 in the immediate area has been turned-back to county maintenance as Morrison County Road 76. This old portion of Highway 371, including the former "Y"-intersection with Highway 115, has been reconstructed as a frontage road.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Weeks III, John A. . MN State Highway 115 . Highways, Byways, and Bridge Photography . 2008 .
  2. Web site: 161.115, Additional Trunk Highways . Minnesota Statutes . Office of the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota . 2010 . November 20, 2010.
  3. Web site: Minnesota Highway 115 . Froehlig, Adam. Minnesota Highway Ends . March 12, 2006.