Interstate 35E (I-35E) is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Minnesota, passing through downtown Saint Paul. It is one of two through routes for I-35 through the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the other being I-35W through Minneapolis. Thus, both ends of I-35E are shared with I-35W and I-35.

During the early years of the Interstate Highway System, branching Interstates with directional suffixes, such as N, S, E, and W, were common nationwide. On every other Interstate nationwide, these directional suffixes have been phased out by redesignating the suffixed route numbers with a loop or spur route number designation (such as I-270 in Maryland, which was once I-70S) or, in some cases, were assigned a different route number (such as I-76, which was once I-80S). In the case of I-35 in the Twin Cities area, since neither branch is clearly the main route and both branches return to a unified Interstate beyond the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, officials at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have allowed the suffixes of E and W in Minnesota to remain in the present day. I-35 also splits into I-35E and I-35W in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, for similar reasons as the I-35 split in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area.

Similar to the Texas split, the Minnesota version of I-35E continues the exit numbers of I-35, while those of I-35W begin with 1 just north of the split. I-35E also carries the legislative route of I-35—unsigned legislative route 390—through the Twin Cities. On the other hand, the portion of I-35E through the West Seventh neighborhood of Saint Paul is a controversial four-lane parkway that heavy trucks are prohibited from using.

I-35E in Minnesota is in length.

Route description The southern terminus of I-35E is at exit 88A in Burnsville, where I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W. While I-35W heads north into Minneapolis, I-35E takes a northeasterly path into Saint Paul. There is no access between I-35E and I-35W here, but Dakota County Road 42 (exit 88B), immediately to the north, connects the two Interstates in Burnsville. Major interchanges south of Saint Paul include Minnesota State Highway 77 (MN 77, signed as Cedar Avenue—exit 92) at Apple Valley–Eagan and I-494 (exits 99A and 99B) in Mendota Heights. Between exits 94 and 97, the highway deviates from its relatively straight path to avoid Blackhawk Lake. As it crosses I-494, I-35E turns more to the north, crossing MN 62 (exits 101A and 101B) and MN 13 (Great River Road, exit 102) in Mendota Heights before crossing the Mississippi River on the Lexington Bridge into the city of Saint Paul. This portion of I-35E is four lanes wide (two in each direction), except between MN 77 and MN 62, where it carries six lanes. The Lexington Bridge carries six lanes—four throughlanes and the exit and entrance lanes for MN 13—as well as a bicycle and pedestrian path. The bridge has an innovative automatic anti-icing system that sprays potassium acetate onto the bridge surface to prevent frost and ice formation in inclement weather.

The auxiliary lanes from MN 13 leave at the first exit in Saint Paul, a half interchange with Shepard Road (exit 103A) with ramps toward the bridge. Shepard Road is a four-lane roadway with minimal intersections that follows the Mississippi River northeast into downtown Saint Paul. Immediately after Shepard Road is MN 5 (7th Street West, exit 103B), which leads northeast to downtown through the heart of the West Seventh neighborhood. The portion of I-35E between MN 5 and downtown is a mostly sunken four-lane parkway with a speed limit of (this portion is sometimes referred to as the "practice freeway" by locals), a ban on trucks over gross vehicle weight, and median landscaping. This parkway was built instead of a typical six-lane freeway because of local opposition. Major interchanges on this section include Ayd Mill Road (exit 104B), a sunken four-lane road to the northwest, and Kellogg Boulevard (exit 106B), which extends in both directions as part of a loop around downtown.

The four lanes of I-35E pass through Downtown Saint Paul in the center of the six lanes of I-94/U.S. Highway 52 (US 52), with a short overlap occupying the blocks between 11th and 12th streets. Despite this short overlap, there is no weaving between the two highways, since an exit in each direction of I-35E—exit 107A from I-35E north to I-94 east/US 52 south and exit 107B from I-35E south to I-94 west/US 52 north—takes traffic that would move to the right in the overlap instead to the right of the entire roadway. There are no interchanges on the common segment, and no direct access from I-35E north to I-94 west/US 52 north or I-94 east/US 52 south to I-35E south. Kellogg Boulevard provides an indirect connection; Ayd Mill Road, further west, nears I-94/US 52 but does not connect without several turns and traffic lights. Unlike the west split of I-35E and I-94/US 52, all ramps are present at the east split; among other uses, the I-35E south to I-94 east/US 52 north and I-94 west/US 52 north to I-35E north ramps carry traffic following US 10, which overlaps I-35E north of downtown, and truck traffic using the nearby Lafayette Freeway (US 52) to avoid the parkway through the West Seventh neighborhood.

From Downtown Saint Paul north to the junction with I-694 west (exit 113) in Little Canada, where US 10 also leaves I-35E, the highway carries three lanes of traffic in each direction, in addition to a single MnPASS HOV lane. Major interchanges here include Cayuga Street (exit 108), and MN 36 (exits 111A and 111B). An overlap of about exists between the two interchanges with I-694 (exits 113 and 114). Heading northbound on I-35E, the four lanes split into three for I-35E northbound and two for I-694 westbound, and then three lanes from I-694 eastbound enter on the right. These six lanes then split into three on the left for I-35E northbound and three on the right for I-694 eastbound; after the turn north, a lane joins on the right from I-694 westbound traffic. The configuration in the other direction, where I-35E southbound and I-694 westbound merge, is similar, but with only five total lanes instead of six where the freeways overlap. A four-year construction project, called "Unweave the Weave", beginning in 2004, was completed in 2008 and eliminated weaving where previously three I-35E lanes were inside three I-694 lanes, and left lane onramps existed.

I-35E is four lanes wide north of I-694; the third lane added northbound from the I-694 westbound ramp exits immediately onto County Road E (exit 115) in Vadnais Heights. Other than the northern terminus of I-35E (exit 127) in Columbus near Forest Lake, where it merges with I-35W to reform I-35, there are only four interchanges on I-35E north of I-694 between Vadnais Heights and Columbus, all for county roads.

History

Early plans for the Interstate Highway System include a route along roughly the same alignment as the present I-35 through the Twin Cities area but are not detailed enough to show exactly how the cities would be served. When preliminary urban routes were laid out in 1955, a split alignment was chosen to serve both cities equally. South of the Twin Cities, I-35 followed the corridor of old US 65, which had followed Lyndale Avenue between Burnsville and Downtown Minneapolis. I-35E was located parallel to MN 13, which cut northeast to Saint Paul from old US 65 south of the Minnesota River. North of the metropolitan area, I-35 closely paralleled US 61, which passed through Saint Paul; I-35W paralleled old US 8 from Minneapolis northeast through New Brighton and then to the present day I-35E/I-35W split at Columbus near Forest Lake, near where old US 8 had joined US 61. The Minnesota Legislature defined I-35E as part of unmarked Legislative Route 390, which stretched south to the Iowa state line and north to the city of Duluth along I-35.

I-35E was completed north of downtown Saint Paul in 1970. The first section to open ran north from Maryland Avenue in Saint Paul to I-694 in Little Canada; this was completed in the early 1960s, concurrently with I-694 west to old MN 49 (Rice Street). Later that decade, I-35E was extended south to Downtown Saint Paul, opening first to Pennsylvania Avenue and then to I-94, including the I-35E/I-94 concurrency (and I-94 in both directionsControl Section 6282: I-94 west of I-35E (PDF) Control Section 6283: I-94 east of I-35E (PDF)). In 1970, I-35E was extended north along the I-35E/I-694 concurrency in Little Canada–Vadnais Heights and also extended northbound to its northern terminus at Columbus near Forest Lake; the adjacent sections of I-35, I-35W, and I-694 opened at about the same time.Control Section 0280: I-35W south of I-35E (PDF) Control Section 0283: I-35 north of I-35E (PDF Control Section 6286: I-694 east of I-35E (PDF)Control Section 1982 (PDF) Control Section 6280 (PDF) Control Section 6281 (PDF) Control Section 0282: I-35E from south to north (PDF)

The southern half of I-35E in the metro area took a lot longer to build. Its first section—a short stretch from MN 110 north to MN 5, including the Lexington Bridge over the Mississippi River—opened in the mid-1960s.Control Section 1980: I-35 south of I-35E (PDF) Control Section 1981: I-35W north of I-35E (PDF) Even though the connecting piece of I-35W and I-35 at the southern terminus of I-35E in Burnsville opened in the mid-1960s, it was not until the mid-1980s that I-35E was completed south of MN 110 at Mendota Heights and southbound through Eagan and Apple Valley, where there had been a missing link of I-35E for 20 years. Construction was delayed by opposition from nearby residents in Burnsville and from environmentalists over the proposed alignment across Blackhawk Lake. The final plan involved a new alignment avoiding the lake, as well as a less complicated interchange at I-494 in Mendota Heights, eliminating access to MN 55 that was part of the earlier plans.

Controversy through the West Seventh neighborhood of Saint Paul

The missing piece through the West Seventh neighborhood of Saint Paul, from MN 5 (7th Street West) northeast to I-94 in Downtown Saint Paul, was held up by controversy. Construction began in 1964 and was planned for completion in the 1970s as a typical six-lane freeway, but, in late 1969, a group of neighbors in the area had formed "Residents in Protest 35E" (R.I.P. 35E) to oppose the completion of I-35E. The group convinced the city to drop its support, and, in August, it filed a joint lawsuit against the Minnesota Highway Department (MHD) and the US Department of Transportation along with four neighborhood associations and eight citizens. The parties quickly reached an agreement, favorable to the plaintiffs, to halt construction pending an environmental impact statement (EIS).