Minnesota State Highway 22 (MN 22) is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

in south-central and central

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, which runs from Winnebago County Road R50 at the

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

state line near Kiester and continues north to its northern terminus at its

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

with State Highway 23 in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, west of St. Cloud.

Route description

State Highway 22 serves as a north–south route between Wells,

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

, St. Peter, Gaylord, Glencoe, Hutchinson, Litchfield, and

. Highway 22 parallels State Highway 15 throughout its route. Highway 22 also intersects with Highway 15 at Hutchinson. The route crosses the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

between St. Peter and Kasota. Highway 22 is built as a four-lane divided highway on the east side of

. The southern terminus for Highway 22 is at the

state line, near Kiester, where Highway 22 becomes Winnebago County Road R50 (140th Avenue) upon crossing the state line.

History

State Highway 22 was authorized in 1920 from St. Peter to Paynesville. In 1934, it was extended south to the Iowa state line, and its northernmost section between Eden Valley and Paynesville became part of State Highway 55. The section of Highway 22 between

and St. Peter follows the original route of U.S. Highway 169. When the parallel route west of the

was first completed in the late 1950s, it originally carried the ''Highway 22'' designation for a few years until it was redesignated U.S. 169 and Highway 22 reverted to its original alignment. From 1934 to 1961, the northern terminus for Highway 22 was at its

with State Highway 55 in Eden Valley. The Highway 22 designation was extended north to

in 1961. Highway 22 will be redone from Mapleton to CO RD 90 just south of Mankato starting March 27, 2017, with the project finalizing in 2019. It will be a 3 part project, with the first stage being Mapleton to Beauford in 2017. In 2018 from Beauford to CO RD 90. Finally in 2019 the Victory Drive Memorial will be finished. Highway 22 was paved in its entirety by 1953. The new alignment section of Highway 22 on the southeast side of

to U.S. Highway 14 was constructed .

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist 022 Transportation in Stearns County, Minnesota Transportation in Meeker County, Minnesota Transportation in McLeod County, Minnesota Transportation in Sibley County, Minnesota Transportation in Nicollet County, Minnesota Transportation in Blue Earth County, Minnesota Transportation in Le Sueur County, Minnesota Transportation in Faribault County, Minnesota U.S. Route 169