West end: CR 3 at Palisade Length 15.35 km County Aitkin County, Minnesota | Counties: Aitkin Constructed 1949 | |
Existed: July 1, 1949 – April 15, 2012 East end: MN 65 at Shamrock Township | ||
Minnesota State Highway 232 (MN 232) was a highway in northeast Minnesota, which ran from its intersection with Aitkin County Road 3 on the east edge of Palisade and continued east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with State Highway 65 and Aitkin County Road 14 in Shamrock Township, near Big Sandy Lake and the town of McGregor. Almost sixteen years after the Minnesota Legislature repealed MN 232's route definition in 1996, Mn/DOT and Aitkin County finally came to an agreement in April 2012 to transfer the road to the county, which became an extension of Aitkin County Road 3.
Contents
Highway 232 was 9.5 miles (15 km) in length.
Route description
Highway 232 served as an east–west route in northeast Minnesota between Palisade and State Highway 65. It crosses the Mississippi River at Palisade.
Savanna Portage State Park is located 11 miles northeast of the junction of former MN 232, MN 65, and County Road 14 (CR 14) in Shamrock Township. The park entrance is located on CR 14 in nearby Balsam Township.
History
Highway 232 was authorized on July 1, 1949.
The route was paved in 1959.
In 1996, the Minnesota Legislature approved removal of Route 232 from the state trunk highway system, becoming effective when Mn/DOT and Aitkin County agreed on a turnback plan; however, no agreement was reached. An article in the Aitkin newspaper in mid-June 1999 stated that only in recent months had Mn/DOT offered to give the county $4.3 million to repair and take control of the route. A $1.7 million Mississippi River bridge replacement in 2000 might have been part of the turnback agreement.
Finally, on April 15, 2012, Mn/DOT and Aitkin County finalized an agreement to transfer the road to county control. Despite the agreement, MN 232 continued to be present in Mn/DOT route logs as recently as February 2013, but it was finally removed from the November 2013 release.
Major intersections
The entire route is in Aitkin County.