Is This St. Cloud Road The ‘Ugliest In America?’

Because I am, like many, hopelessly addicted to the internet, I find myself on Reddit more than I should be once in a while. One of my favorite spots on Reddit is the Minnesota subreddit.

Earlier this week a Redditor named u/j_ly asked about the 'ugliest stretch of road' in the state of Minnesota. They offered up Highway 23/Division Street as their example.

Pretty much everyone agrees the most beautiful stretch of road in Minnesota is Hwy 61 from Two Harbors to the Canadian border, but what's the ugliest stretch of road? My submission is the stroadiest of stroads, Hwy 23 through St. Cloud and Waite Park. It's 6 miles of strip malls filled with chain stores, parking lots, and billboards.

 

The stretch of MN 23 I'm thinking of starts at Rollies Rednecks and Longnecks in the East and goes West through town, past the mall, past Minnesota's largest trailer park (Bel Clare Estates) and towards Cold Spring until you get to the Loves truck stop on 94.

It's hard to argue with the reasoning here, as the drive down that stretch can be maddening. Between the trucks, endless red lights (which are constantly run) and traffic it isn't exactly tranquil... but, is it really the worst?!

Other users made their nominations on the post, including my pick (County Road 42 in Burnsville), I-94 between Fargo and Fergus Falls (boring), 169 from Elk River to Princeton ("You got a big trash pile, the former (f)art barn, angry rednecks in pickups... Pretty much my idea of hell,") and US 12 between Litchfield and Willmar.

A few commenters agreed with the OP's nomination.

There's a lot of unpleasant roads. A lot of roads that I don't like to look at. But I agree, 23 through St. Cloud is awful. A freeway is bland and boring. Division is somehow worse. It's actively repulsive.

 

 

It doesn’t help that more cars get through the red light than the green light at most intersections.

First thing I did when I moved there was figured out all the alternate routes to take me across town without using division unless absolutely necessary.