Minnesota State Highway 149 (MN 149) is a 9.924-mile-long (15.971 km) highway in Minnesota that runs from its intersection with State Highway 3 in Inver Grove Heights to its northern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 5 (W. 7th Street) in Saint Paul.
 Trunk Highway 149 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodd Road | ||||
 MN 149 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MnDOT | ||||
| Length | 9.924 mi[1] (15.971 km) | |||
| Existed | 1981–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  MN 3 at Inver Grove Heights | |||
 MN 55 at Eagan I-494 at Eagan, Mendota Heights MN 62 at Mendota Heights MN 13 at West St. Paul, St. Paul | ||||
| North end |  MN 5 at St. Paul | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Minnesota | |||
| Counties | Dakota, Ramsey | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Highway 149 is known as Smith Avenue within Saint Paul and passes over the Smith Avenue High Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. Outside of the Saint Paul city limits, Highway 149 is known as Dodd Road.
Route description
editHighway 149 serves as a north–south route between the communities of Eagan, Mendota Heights, West St. Paul, and the "West Side" neighborhood of Saint Paul. The northern terminus of the route is at W. 7th Street / Fort Road near downtown Saint Paul.
History
editHighway 149 was marked in 1981.
The route was originally authorized in 1920 as Trunk Highway 1.[2][3] It was later part of U.S. Route 65 from 1927 to 1934.[4]
The route was paved (as 65) by 1929.[4]
In 1934, this route was renumbered State Highway 88 when U.S. 65 was rerouted on a different alignment.[4]
The route was renumbered again in 1950 as an extension of State Highway 49.
By 1981, the route was renumbered 149 when a portion of State Highway 49 through downtown Saint Paul was turned back to local maintenance.
The Smith Avenue High Bridge over the Mississippi River was originally a steel truss bridge built around 1895 and rebuilt as a concrete arch in 1987.
On July 30, 2015, the highway was dedicated the Officer Scott Patrick Memorial Highway, named in honor of a police officer killed during a traffic stop along the highway near Bernard Street. The memorial signs were unveiled in a ceremony on the one-year anniversary of his killing.[5]
Historic Dodd Road
editBefore it was a numbered highway in the 1920s, Dodd Road was a historic route in Minnesota. It was originally built in 1853 by Minnesota pioneer William B. Dodd and his crew. The road was built as a connection between the city of Mendota and the city of St. Peter (in south-central Minnesota) to help the development of St. Peter during its frontier days. Dodd Road was financed using private funds at a time when most roads were financed by the government to aid settlers. After years of lobbying by Lieutenant (later General) Jesse Reno a remaining portion of the funds allotted to his 1853 survey of the military road from the Missouri River to Mendota which was saved by the work on the Mendota/St. Peter section by the Dodd crew was awarded by the U.S government to the private builders. Present day Highway 149 bears little resemblance to the frontier road but follows the route in parts between Highways 3 and 55.
Major intersections
edit| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota | Inver Grove Heights | 0.000 | 0.000 | MN 3 | |
| 0.581 | 0.935 |  CSAH 71 (Rich Valley Boulevard) | |||
| Eagan | 1.956 | 3.148 |  CSAH 28 (Yankee Doodle Road) | ||
| 2.906 | 4.677 | MN 55 (Courthouse Boulevard) – Hastings | South end of MN 55 overlap | ||
| 3.722 | 5.990 |  CSAH 26 (Lone Oak Road) | |||
| 3.381 | 5.441 | MN 55 (Courthouse Boulevard) – Minneapolis | North end of MN 55 overlap | ||
| Eagan–Mendota Heights line | 4.005– 4.268 | 6.445– 6.869 | I-494 | Interchange | |
| Mendota Heights | 5.644– 5.658 | 9.083– 9.106 | MN 62 | Previously MN 110 | |
| 6.737 | 10.842 |  CSAH 8 (Wentworth Avenue) | |||
| West St. Paul | 7.960 | 12.810 |  CSAH 63 (Delaware Avenue) | ||
| West St. Paul–St. Paul line | 8.478 | 13.644 | MN 13 (Annapolis Street) | ||
| Mississippi River | 9.250– 9.774 | 14.886– 15.730 | High Bridge | ||
| Ramsey | St. Paul | 9.985 | 16.069 | MN 5 (West Seventh Street) | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
edit- ^ a b "Trunk Highway Log Point Listing - Construction District 5" (PDF). Minnesota Department of Transportation. August 20, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 27, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ Minnesota State Legislature (2010). "§ 161.114, Constitutional Trunk Highways". Minnesota Statutes. Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ Map of Trunk Highway System, State of Minnesota (Map). Minnesota Highway Department. May 1, 1923. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c Riner, Steve. "Details of routes 101–149". The Unofficial Minnesota Highways Page. Retrieved November 21, 2010.[self-published source]
- ^ http://kstp.com/news/stories/s3865162.shtml. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
- Brown, Curt (June 11, 2003). "Odd old Dodd Road". Minneapolis Star Tribune. pp. A1, A12.