Category Assignments & Management Guidelines

Working with city and county representatives, MnDOT has developed guidelines for managing access to the state highway system. Every highway segment has been assigned a:

 

• Primary access category based on the roadway's functional and strategic importance within the statewide network
• Subcategory based on the existing and planned land use for the surrounding area

 

Within each primary access category are Urban Core, Urbanizing, and Rural subcategories, which are based on the existing and planned land use of the surrounding area. The recommended spacing and allowance for public street intersections and private access varies with the highway's primary category and subcategory. MnDOT applies the access management guidelines when reviewing plats, subdivisions, environmental documents and development plans and when conducting access permit review.

 

Urban Core areas are fully developed with a tightly woven network of public streets. Public street spacing is based on block length, usually between 300-660 feet. The spacing for direct property access typically should be at least 200 feet to provide adequate stopping sight distance.

 

Urbanizing areas are developing areas beyond the urban core. Local governments should develop a complete network of supporting local streets to serve these areas. Public intersections should be spaced at 1/8, 1/4, or 1/2 mile increments, depending on the highway’s primary category assignment. Access to homes and businesses should be provided from the local supporting street network, and not from the state highway.

 

In Rural areas where agriculture, forestry, or very low density residential uses predominate, the local network of supporting roads is usually quite limited. In these areas, public street intersections should be spaced at 1/4, 1/2, or 1 mile increments, depending on the highway's primary category assignment. Direct access to homes and farms should be provided by local roads when possible. When that is not possible, limited direct property access may be permitted.

 

 

District map

 

 

 

 

District Categories

Category and subcategory assignments for each segment of the highway system are provided in the following spreadsheets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

District 1

• Category Assignments (PDF 286 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 791 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF (763 KB)

 

 

District 2

• Category Assignments (PDF 320 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 730 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 703 KB)

 

 

District 3

• Category Assignments (PDF 339 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 1.2 MB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 1.1 MB)

 

 

District 4

• Category Assignments (PDF 324 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 1 MB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 1 MB)

 

 

Metro District

• Category Assignments (PDF 302 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 835 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 821 KB)

 

 

District 6

• Category Assignments (PDF 309 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 913 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 870 KB)

 

 

District 7

• Category Assignments (PDF 359 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 794 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 749 KB)

 

 

District 8

• Category Assignments (PDF 488 KB)
• Primary Categories (PDF 894 KB)
• Sub Categories (PDF 892 KB)