Minnesota State Highway 43 (MN 43) is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

in southeast

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, which runs from 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, thei ...

with State Highway 44 in

Mabel Mabel is an English female given name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987, History Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering ...

and continues north to its northern terminus at the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

state line at

Winona Winona, Wynona or Wynonna may refer to: Places Canada * Winona, Ontario United States * Winona, Arizona * Winona, Indiana * Winona Lake, Indiana * Winona, Kansas * Winona, Michigan * Winona County, Minnesota ** Winona, Minnesota, the seat of ...

, where it becomes

Wisconsin Highway 54 State Trunk Highway 54 (often called Highway 54, STH-54 or WIS 54) is a Wisconsin state highway running east–west across central Wisconsin. It is in length. Route description Minnesota state line to Plover WIS 54 begins at the w ...

upon crossing the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. Highway 43 is in length.

Route description

State Highway 43 serves as a north–south route between

, Rushford, and

in southeast Minnesota. The route crosses the Root River in Fillmore County. Highway 43 passes through the Richard J. Dorer State Forest. The northern terminus of Highway 43 is at the

at Winona, where the route becomes

upon crossing the Main Channel and

North Channel North Channel may refer to: *North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland) *North Channel (Ontario), body of water along the north shore of Lake Huron, Canada *North Channel, Hong Kong *Canal du Nord The Canal du Nord (, literally ''Canal of the N ...

bridges over the river to

WinonaMinnesotaSignBridgeWIS54WestTerminus

History

State Highway 43 was authorized in 1920 between Rushford and

. The remainder of the route between Rushford and

was authorized in 1933. Highway 43 was paved from

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

by 1929. The only gravel section remaining by 1940 was south of Rushford. The route was completely paved by 1953. A major project in the 1980s to rebuild Highway 43 from

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, a ...

as an expressway ran out of money. Only one carriageway was actually paved. There is still visible road bed and bridges east of the roadway in this section. In response to the

I-35W Bridge The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Min ...

collapse in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

on August 1, 2007, all Minnesota bridges were ordered to be inspected. During an inspection, "gusset plate

corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engi ...

issues" were discovered in the Main Channel Bridge (Highway 43 / Highway 54), which crosses the

between

Winona, MN Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf. The city is named after legendary figure Winona, who ...

and nearby Fountain City, WI. The Main Channel Bridge (Bridge #5900) was closed to traffic on June 3, 2008.

MnDOT The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...

made a statement this was due to

gusset plate Gusset plate is a plate for connecting beams and girders to columns. A gusset plate can be fastened to a permanent member either by bolts, rivets or welding or a combination of the three. They are used in bridges and buildings, as well as oth ...

corrosion issues similar to those that caused the I-35W Bridge to collapse.Minnesota Highway 43 / Wisconsin Highway 54 - Mississippi River Crossing at Winona - project status

. Accessed June 5, 2008. The Main Channel Bridge reopened to car traffic on June 14, 2008. Commercial vehicles were still directed to find alternate routes across the river. The bridge was scheduled for replacement in 2017, which has been moved up to 2014.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist 043 Transportation in Fillmore County, Minnesota Transportation in Winona County, Minnesota