Minnesota State Highway 36

Minnesota State Highway 36 (MN 36) is a 21.718 mi highway in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with Interstate 35W (I-35W) in Roseville and continues east to its eastern terminus at the Wisconsin state line (near Stillwater), where it becomes Wisconsin Highway 64 (WIS 64) upon crossing the St. Croix River at the St. Croix Crossing bridge. MN 36 is a major freeway in suburban Minneapolis–Saint Paul from its western terminus to its intersection with MN 120, at which point it becomes an at-grade expressway.

Historically, MN 36 traveled on a north-south course through Minneapolis before heading east toward Stillwater. Since its terminus moved to I-35W in 1980, growth and development has seen the highway becoming more of a freeway, with controlled intersections being rebuilt as grade-separated interchanges.

Washington County is currently leading a project to replace the controlled intersection at MN 36 and County State-Aid Highway 17 (CSAH 17, Lake Elmo Avenue) in Grant and Lake Elmo. As of May 2024, three interchange designs are being considered. The county has also requested $3 million in state funding for to design an interchange at the intersection of MN 36 and MN 120.

Route description
MN 36 serves as an east–west highway between the cities of Roseville, Little Canada, Maplewood, North St. Paul, Oakdale, Oak Park Heights, and Stillwater. MN 36 is a controlled-access freeway from its interchange with I-35W in Roseville eastward to MN 120 in North St. Paul and Oakdale. Near Rosedale Center, MN 36 has a junction with MN 51 (Snelling Avenue). It then meets County Road 42 (CR 42, Rice Street) at an offset single-point urban interchange. The highway intersects I-35E in Little Canada. It straddles the border with and crosses into Maplewood, where it meets U.S. Highway 61 (US 61). The portion of MN 36 in North St. Paul is known as the Officer Richard Crittenden, Sr. Memorial Highway.

The freeway section ends at a signal-controlled intersection with MN 120. MN 36 then becomes an at-grade expressway. It proceeds through Oakdale before an interchange with I-694 in Pine Springs. For about 4 mi outside of the I-494/I-694 loop, the expressway section of MN 36 has a speed limit of 65 mph. It passes the cities of Grant and Lake Elmo before reaching Stillwater and Oak Park Heights. MN 36 crosses the St. Croix River via the St. Croix Crossing bridge and becomes WIS 64 upon crossing the state line into Wisconsin.

History
MN 36 was authorized in 1933. Legally, it is defined as Legislative Route 118. The route is not marked with this number. At this time, MN 36 was significantly longer, running between Richfield and a point west of Stillwater. The route was a paved road from its junction with MN 5 northward to the Minneapolis city limits. It was known as Cedar Avenue for most of its course in Minneapolis. It then turned to the east on a bituminous surface until it reached US 61, at which point it became a gravel road to its terminus with US 212 near Stillwater. By 1941, the entire highway was paved with at least bitumen. Excluding within Minneapolis and the portion between MN 49 and US 61, the entirety of the route was a four-lane divided highway.

MN 36 did not originally reach the Wisconsin state line at the St. Croix River. Part of old MN 212 in Oak Park Heights and Stillwater was renumbered as MN 36 in 1960. By 1962, MN 36 extended past MN 5 and continued through Bloomington, ending at a junction with MN 13 in Eagan. The portion of MN 36 south of MN 62 was redesignated as a part of MN 77 in 1980. The former highway between MN 62 and I-35W reverted to county control as CR 152 (Cedar Avenue).

The section of MN 36 in North St. Paul was closed in 2007 from April to September. The highway was rebuilt to freeway standards during this time between White Bear Avenue in Maplewood and MN 120 (Century Avenue) in North St. Paul. The changes included turning the intersection with CR 68 (McKnight Road) into a grade-separated interchange and building an overpass at Margaret Street, removing its access to MN 36. The full closure in 2007 allowed the project to be completed more quickly and at a lower cost than a staged reconstruction. It also increased safety for construction workers. The MN 36 reconstruction project in North St. Paul was completed in 2008. The budget of the project was $24 million.

In 2010, the existing diamond interchange at CR 49 (Rice Street) in Roseville was replaced with an offset single-point urban interchange with an estimated cost of $27 million. This was intended to reduce safety and capacity issues. The project also included the widening of Rice Street and the addition of bike lanes and sidewalks. Construction ended in late 2011. Construction of a new tight diamond interchange at English Street started in 2013 to replace an existing controlled intersection. A trail bridge was also built for the Bruce Vento Regional Trail; the total cost of the project was $17.3 million. An interchange was constructed in 2014 at MN 36 and CSAH 29 (Hilton Trail) in Pine Springs. The project also included two roundabouts on Hilton Trail on either side of the highway, one at 60th Street North and another at an extension of Viking Drive.



The Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in 2014 designating MN 36 in North St. Paul as the Officer Richard Crittenden Sr. Memorial Highway, honoring a North St. Paul officer killed in the line of duty in 2009. Prior to August 2017, upon reaching the St. Croix River, MN 36 merged with, and ran concurrently with MN 95 north into downtown Stillwater. At Chestnut St., MN 36 turned east and crossed the St. Croix River on the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge. The Stillwater Bridge had to be closed frequently for repairs, and at over 80 years old was deemed obsolete and vulnerable to failure.

On August 2, 2017, the new St. Croix Crossing bridge opened and MN 36 now uses this bridge to cross into Wisconsin, eliminating its concurrency with MN 95. The bridge was designed around concerns for the environment and scenery. For example, the interchange with MN 95 was routed around a bald eagle nest. The St. Croix Crossing bridge uses an uncommon extradosed design with shorter towers than a suspension bridge that keeps the height lower than the river bluffs. Upon completion, it was the longest extradosed bridge in the United States. Since its construction, the bridge has led to a significant uptick in the number of vehicles traveling on MN 36.

In 2019, construction began on a $22 million interchange at MN 36 and CSAH 13 (Hadley Avenue) in Oakdale, partially as a result of high crash rates. As a part of the project, one roundabout was constructed on each side of the overpass, with one more being built at 56th Street. Construction finished in 2020. A partial cloverleaf interchange was constructed in 2021 at the intersection of MN 36 and CSAH 15 north (Manning Avenue) just west of Stillwater. The project had a budget of $32 million.

Future
As of May 2024, Washington County is analyzing potential redesigns of the MN 36/CSAH 17 (Lake Elmo Avenue) intersection in the cities of Grant and Lake Elmo, to eliminate spacing, traffic, and safety concerns. As part of a three-step plan, Washington County Public Works has narrowed down three grade-separated designs:
 * Overpass with buttonhook ramps
 * Tight diamond interchange (conventional intersections)
 * Tight diamond interchange (roundabouts)

The total cost of the project is estimated to be between $43 million and $53 million, with $30 million coming from federal and state funding. A final design is to be completed in the summer of 2025, with construction slated for the following summer, and ending in late 2027.

As a part of its legislative priorities for 2024, Washington County is requesting $3 million in state funds to design a grade-separated interchange for the existing intersection at MN 36 and MN 120. Other than the intersection with Lake Elmo Avenue, it is the only controlled intersection west of CSAH 5 north/CSAH 15 south (Stillwater Boulevard). It has also been identified by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) as having the fourth-highest crash cost of any Minnesota state highway, with an average of 25 reported crashes per year. The project would also include pedestrian and bicycle considerations, as well as connections to the Gateway State Trail.