Minnesota State Highway 218

Minnesota State Highway 218 was a highway that originally ran from U.S. Route 218 in St. Paul to U.S. Route 210 in Brainerd. In 1935, it was extended south to Owatonna along the former route of U.S. 218. Around 1949, it was extended north of Brainerd to Merrifield.

Trunk Highway 218
MN 218 highlighted in red over a modern map
Route information
Maintained by MnDOT
Length	189 mi[1] (304 km)
Existed	1933[2]–1961
Major junctions
South end	US 65 in Owatonna
North end	CR 3 in Merrifield
Location
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
Highway system
Minnesota Trunk Highway System Interstate US State Legislative Scenic

Route description

Highway 218 ran generally north-south, passing through Brainerd, Pierz, Foley, Becker, Big Lake, Elk River, Anoka, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rosemount, Farmington, Northfield, Faribault, and Owatonna.

It ran concurrent with U.S. Routes 10, 12, and 52 at various points between St. Paul and Becker.

The route ran through the counties of Rice, Dakota, Ramsey, Hennepin, Anoka, Sherburne, Benton, Morrison, and Crow Wing.

History

State Highway 218 was authorized in 1933 from St. Paul to Brainerd. In 1935, U.S. Route 218 was truncated to end in Owatonna, and the MN-218 designation was extended along this route.

In 1949, it was extended north of Brainerd to the town of Merrifield.

The route was decommissioned in 1961. The bulk of the road south of St. Paul became State Highway 3, and most of the route north of Becker became State Highway 25.^[3][4]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[5]	km	Destinations	Notes
Steele	Owatonna	0	0.0	US 14 / US 65	Southern end of US 65 overlap
Rice	Walcott Township	10	16	US 65	Northern end of US 65 overlap
	Faribault	15	24	MN 60
		17	27	MN 21
	Northfield	32	51	MN 19
Dakota	Farmington	45	72	MN 50	Southern end of MN 50 overlap
		46	74	MN 50	Northern end of MN 50 overlap
	Wescott	59	95	MN 49
	​	62	100	US 52 / MN 55	Southern end of US 52 overlap
	​	66	106	MN 100
Ramsey	St. Paul	71	114	US 52 (Robert Street) / MN 56 (Concord Street)	Northern end of US 52 overlap
				MN 5 (Kellogg Boulevard)
				US 212 (8th Street)
				US 12 / US 52 / MN 56 (University Avenue) / US 10 (Marion Avenue)	Eastern end of US 12 / US 52 / MN 56 overlap
				MN 51 (Snelling Avenue)
Hennepin	Minneapolis			MN 56 (University Avenue)	Western end of MN 56 overlap
				Washington Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River
				MN 36 (Cedar Avenue)
				US 65 south, US 8 north (3rd Avenue S.)
				US 12 (Hennepin Avenue)	Western end of US 12 overlap
				MN 152 (Washington Avenue)
				US 169 (Lyndale Avenue)
				MN 278 (Lowry Avenue)	Southern end of MN 278 overlap
	Robbinsdale			MN 278 (36th Avenue N.)	Northern end of MN 278 overlap
				MN 100
	Brooklyn Park			MN 152	Southern end of MN 152 overlap
	Osseo			MN 152	Northern end of MN 152 overlap
	Champlin			US 169	Southern end of US 169 overlap
Mississippi River				Anoka–Champlin Mississippi River Bridge
Anoka	Anoka			US 10 / MN 56	Eastern end of US 10 overlap
Sherburne	Elk River			US 169 north, MN 101 south	Northern end of US 169 overlap
	Big Lake			MN 25
	Becker			US 10 / US 52	Western end of US 10 / 52 overlap
Benton	Glendorado Township			MN 95	Eastern end of MN 95 overlap
	St. George Township			MN 95	Western end of MN 95 overlap
	Foley			MN 23
Morrison	Genola			MN 27	Southern end of MN 27 overlap
	Buh Township			MN 27	Northern end of MN 27 overlap
Crow Wing	Brainerd			MN 18
				US 210
				Mississippi River
	Merrifield			CR 3
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus