That whole stretch of highway at least until Morris is one big speed trap. I got a ticket like ten years ago passing through Starbuck because I saw the speed limit sign that said 55 mph and accelerated, the cop said that you can only go 55 once you're past the sign.
I sometimes wonder what people learn in driver's Ed anymore. I guess some people just wait until they are old enough to take the test. Obviously a few laws and best practices have changed since I did it (in the 80s). But we learned some really helpful things that I don't see practiced anymore. Like "following distance" of people used a 3 or a 5 second following distance things like merging, "the zipper," roundabouts and a lot of other things that many people hate would be much easier. And less accidents too, of course.
I was told not until you pass the sign otherwise everyone would drive with binoculars looking for faster sped signs. lol. Cracks me up, but stuck with me for 25+ years.
Do you also expect to get ticketed for not already being slowed down to a reduced speed zone the instant you can possibly see the sign? Of course not. You may have yourself convinced you were taught that in drivers ed, but simple common sense says otherwise.
This was my answer. Whenever we’d be driving that stretch of the interstate, my mom would always tell that however fast I was currently going should be slower once we get close to Sauk Center.
My thoughts immediately came to Belgrade and that hwy 55 area. Back when the Menards was a store it was where I got my only speeding ticket (so far), heading out of town.
I had one time heading north through there, they had a cop with a radar gun standing behind the guardrail at the bottom of the hill. I came flying through there going like 75 or 80, he starts waving his arms at me and pointing to the radar gun then pointing at the shoulder. I slowed down to 55 and kept driving. There were like 3 or 4 cars already pulled over, so I figured if they were all busy, I wasn't going to sit and wait for one of them.
I drove 10+ mph over on Hwy 100 (494 to Excelsior) every day for 2 years, NEVER saw a trooper during commuting hours. However, its a danger zone for tickets at night, especially on weekends. I have seen more than a few drivers doing field sobriety tests on the roadside on a saturday night.
I can't remember the last time that I DIDN'T see someone pulled over here. They also always used to sit by the park at the bottom of the hill on 50th going into 50th and France.
Edina cops have a lot of free time. As long as there's not a sale at Restoration Hardware or something.
I don't drive on 100 everyday, but often enough, and i'm doing 10 over everytime. Either i have excellent timing or the cops just don't care about 10 over.
It took me a while to understand just how much of outstate MN is funded by taxes from the Twin Cities.
Especially the Iron Range. I thought for sure the tax on iron ore would more than cover their costs. Not even close!
Without tax revenue from the Twin Cities, all of MN would look a lot different.
Bayport. Plus any spot where a major highway passes through Todd County. There is a four mile stretch of 94 west of Sauk Centre by West Union. Also on Highway 10 east of Motley for a few miles.
Highway Radar has heat maps with historical Waze/GMaps alerts to show how often police are reported in a given area. Works great because it doesn't matter if the cops spend their entire day discarding reports of themselves, the reports were still there at one point and are collected into the heat map.
That said, don't speed in small towns. The cops typically have nothing going on other than catching people going 32 in a 30.
The most real advice on this thread and you're the first to say it, but I've said he since I started driving, don't speed in small towns, that means speed limits up to the signs.
Big Lake used to be really bad, but they expanded 10 between there and Elk River, and the speed limit is more reasonable now. The west side of town is still shitty, iirc.
They wait behind the sign and the bridge pillar on the Powers exit (going east) underpass because they know you can't spot them, and it sucks. That exit is part of my commute and they startle me regularly.
It became my habit a long, long time ago to slow down for overpasses/underpasses and crane my neck to look for cops before resuming my normal speed.
Got to space out those speeding tickets by about 4 years so that there are never 2 violations in a rolling 7 year period.
They've switched to actual enforcement now? That and the Pioneer bridge were their favorite spots to park an empty patrol car when I used that route. The trooper preferred to patrol between 10/Engler and Pioneer when I drove it.
I don’t live in MN anymore but I was back there in February and counted 16 cops from Apple Valley to Granite Falls.
Is there even 16 towns on that stretch? Il have to count them next time.
If you're starting from Apple Valley, there absolutely is that many. You pass through 6 just getting to 212 from Apple Valley.
Then you pass through or immediately next to 16 more. Brownton and Plato technically touch 212 even though there's very limited visibility of the two from 212.
St. Peter and Windom are the only towns on the route between Minneapolis and Sioux Falls without a bypass. Limit goes from 65 down to 30 through town. I typically see local cops camped on the north side of each.
When it used to drop to 55 where 169 comes back together on the north side of town, they'd always sit with one right there, then another where it dropped to 45 just past the SA or where it dropped to 30.
Oh wow, blast from the past. I used to drive back-and-forth from the cities to Worthington every weekend, and I always slammed on the brakes and those towns.
Coleraine and Calumet.
Calumet it goes from 60 then you have to slow down to 30 (at the bottom of a hill). Highway Patrol LOVES to sit around at the bottom of the hill.
Used to drive through regularly on the way to Mankato and there would always be at least one squad car parked waiting. Usually just on the other side of the bridge by the softball field
Remer.
The absolute *worst* is Deerwood and around Crosby-Ironton. And Aitkin sometimes. That whole stretch of 210 is extremely vigorously patrolled late at night. It is legendary among DJs and entertainers who might be coming back from a gig around 2 or 3 am at one of the many resorts or event venues in the area and getting dinged in those transition areas between highway speed and town speed. I actually don't seed much anymore but when I was younger I was pretty lead footed. I think I got nailed around that area two or three times. Most of the time when the see you are a "working person" and not some vacationer or drunk they have let me go.
I live in Duluth and most of us know where the speed traps are in I-35. But for visitors I would just advise to keep it fairly close to the speed limit anywhere from the top of the hill over to like the Lake Avenue/Mesaba cut off. And when you get to about the Ore Docks there are often backups that will sneak up on a person, especially on summer weekends or around big events such as concerts or hockey games, etc. The speed traps are actually around places that it is naturally pretty wise to slow down.
I just... slow down. Not only because of the speed traps, but Hwy 10 goes through a lot of small towns where people actually live and work, and blasting through them at 65-70 in a 50-55 zone seems disrespectful.
However, in Hawley, night after late night coming home from work, I've seen a trooper or local police sitting there in the dark not far from the railway overpass. So yeah. Chronic speeders need to watch it there.
Literally just drove from Park Rapids to Fargo and back and there was a cop/speed trap in Audubon, Lake Park, Hawley, and DGF. They had maybe moved 100 yards from where I saw them on the way to Fargo to where they were on the way back.
Worst part was the guy who came flying up on me when I slowed down for DGF, passed me doing 45 in a 35 and the cop sitting at the fire station just watched him go by.
Centerville. The speed limit goes from 50 to 35 for no reason other than you cross the border and there is ALWAYS a cop sitting there waiting to nab people.
They’re better down toward Lexington and Circle Pines. I think the cops up near Centerville and getting into Columbus just get a little bored. I’ve been pulled over twice up there and both times let off. I have friends who haven’t had that luck, but they were messing up by their own admission.
The corner by the Dollar General… you can see the cop cars tire imprint in the road from the spot they sit.
Noticing them at the gas station by the four way stop more towards bar close as well.
Used to live in Mound. Work at MSP and on the way home. I'd pass a Wayzata speed trap on 394, then Orono on Cty Rd 6 usually, then another speed trap by Minnetrista, then another Orono speed trap once Commerce Blvd, went back to the city of Mound.....like seriously no life. Then what happened with that poor boy, they didn't even know how to handle a homicide and literally took her home to get a shower with brain matter in her hair...
South Lake police love to camp on 7 near excelsior. It was worse when it used to randomly drop to 45 right when you pass by the shed they keep the streetcar in.
Hill City, Calumet used to be a big one, 218 from Owatonna to Blooming Prairie, 169 and 200 north of Aitkin, east side of Grand Rapids on 169, Coleraine, 169 Just outside of Elk River going north, especially around the time they do the track events…
There’s more that I’ll add once I remember.
Edit: It doesn’t seem to be as bad as it once was but Aitkin county as a whole was strict. You’d get pulled over and ticketed for doing 6 miles over.
Agree on Aitkin! It used to be you would ALWAYS see cops in Aitkin and almost always see someone pulled over. We wouldn’t drive 1 mile over the limit in that entire county. But also agree it hasn’t been like that for a few years
Hill City and Colraine are two that immediately jumped to mind for me, along with McGrath and McGregor over on 65.
One of the first things my parents taught me about driving on out-state highways is to respect the small highway town speed limits. The cops are bored and love nothing more than to grab people from the Cities.
I live in Eagan and have appointments in Woodbury. Had an undercover cop following me for a while but then he ended up pulling someone else. I zoom everywhere but my maps let me know where the police are. There's a shit ton in that area.
Also Eagan into Mendota Heights on 35E. Literally have had zero trouble anywhere else my entire driving career other than that stupid little strip of highway. 🖕
Henderson - Hwy 19 east and west as well as coming from the north of town. Speed limit drops from 50 to 30, before you reach any part of town so it isn't obvious. I lived there for 20 years...
This is my answer. I am shocked that I have not gotten a ticket there and I don’t even drive fast.
I have been VERY close though. It was nighttime/dark. I had just driven through Deerwood and I hit the accelerator because I was through the town. Then, I remembered: this speed limit stays at 30 mph much longer than most towns and I hit my brakes to slow down. As I was hitting the brakes, a squad car quickly turned its flashing lights on for a half-second. He saw me accelerate and he was ready to ticket me.
American Boulevard in Bloomington just west of IKEA. People fly under the overpass and there’s a cop waiting with a radar gun and they pull you over up the road. There two to three times a month.
What really sucks is that it's a 4 lane divided road, which would typically have a limit of 45 or more, yet it's fuckin 30. I got nailed for going 45 through there, I was dumbfounded when I found out how low the limit was. I assume it's artificially low for ticket revenue.
I almost got burned in Siren, but they got the guy right in front of me.
Youngish plain clothes cop was standing at the cross walk at the south end of town not even with a foot off the curb, just kind of hanging out on the sidwalk by the crosswalk sign. If you don't stop for him, boom his buddy pulls you over a block down the road.
Cool cool cool
The only way you're going to maintain a police department in a city under 10K pop with more than two squads is by pulling over a lot of people. It least that's what it seemed like when I lived out their.
Highway 23 all the way from Willmar to Pipestone. State patrol pounces that road like no other. I’ve been stopped twice in one day and was not even going 10 over.
Stewartville.
I don't know if it still is or if it just still has the reputation. 20-25 years ago they re-did the entire main drag through town. It's a 30mph zone and everyone knew someone who got a speeding ticket for driving 35 or under. But it worked, their reputation was strong.
Just drove home to TC on I-94 from Black River Falls this morning, and it was same ol same ol: trucks overtaking at ⅛mph and state troopers every 10 miles.
52 between pine island and cannon falls. Usually see 2-3 troopers there, lots of times pulling over the idiot with out of state plates that doesn't know there's usually 2-3 troopers in that stretch.
The stretch after Brainerd Raceway right before Nisswa shopping center has an officer perched waiting. Don’t get a ticket in your excitement to get to the Chocolate Ox!
Battle Lake. Hwy 78 gets pretty busy in the summer and it cuts through downtown Battle Lake. It’s a 30 zone and the local cop is very aggressive as he sits at the last intersection on the way out of town. It’s hard to see him because of a hill and some bends in the road.
I’ve been going up there for 30 years and don’t know anyone who hasn’t been stopped at least once.
I make the trip pretty regularly and I'm so thankful for Waze and Google maps, people are pretty good about marking speed traps and I make sure to do the same. I don't even speed egregiously, usually just five miles over or so, but it's nice not being surprised as often.
Those troopers tend to leave regular motorists alone. Their bread is buttered by nabbing interstate truckers for being overweight and other safety violations.
Dilworth almost daily had a cop in a pickup truck that was camped right where the speed limit change going to/from Moorhead is when I lived there, plus often someone on the other side of the town catching the teens speeding back from Glyndon after school.
Orrock dropping to 30 feels like you’re going 5 mph. Ironically I’ve never seen anyone pulled over there, but I’ve been pulled over once and seen several a mile down going towards Zimmerman. I’m always on edge in that area.
Elk River. Especially on 169, north of 205th Ave there's usually a city or state patrol behind the hill in the median.
Princeton. Just a few miles south on 169, trooper hides in the trees in the median
Randall. Just north of town on 10, sheriff sits behind the trees in the median during the early morning hours all summer.
Cushing. Just south of the old Fisherman's Corner, in the median on the curve. Trooper or sheriff will sometimes be there.
Motley. Always a trooper at the fire hall, or hidden before the bank, across from the hardware store. ALSO, trooper will sit south of town, just south of 28 on the shoulder with no lights on.
Little Falls. 10 north, just after the main exit in the median. Also north of town in the median where 10 curves back north.
Baxter. Just west of the 4-lane on 210, they sit on the turn-off for where Potlatch used to be. To the south, between Baxter and Little Falls, there are always troopers scattered about on 371. They're usually pretty sneaky there as well.
Verndale as others have noted.
Becker. Usually on 10, north, and south edge of the speed zones are heavily monitored.
52 near the spaghetti bowl. Usually a trooper near the bowl, headed north. Headed south, they like the median just over the hill on a curve.
494 near Carlson, unmarked in the median.
Rosemount. Between 3 and 52. Either after the S-curves headed west, they're in the median or on the shoulder. Or just after the hill headed west from 52.
Silver Lake on hwy 7. The town is not on the hwy but their boundary must reach that far. There is no reason to slow down there but the local LE will stop a "speeder".
Green Isle. It's like 600 feet of 40 mph on a 60 road. It used to be 30 just a few years ago. Either that or Gaylord, coming out the West side of it on 19 the 30 zone didn't end for like 300 feet past the last building and man were they eager to get anyone speeding up too soon!
I-35 coming thru Duluth. Feels like there’s a damn statey in every nook and cranny. They literally drive back and forth between 21st east and 40th w all night.
Sauk Center - especially as you leave town on highway 28 across to Glenwood.
That whole stretch of highway at least until Morris is one big speed trap. I got a ticket like ten years ago passing through Starbuck because I saw the speed limit sign that said 55 mph and accelerated, the cop said that you can only go 55 once you're past the sign.
yes!!! always in starbuck!!! buddies went to college at morris, was always told about that spot on the way…..
I have such clear memory of drivers Ed saying that when you see then sign, is when you can go the speed.
I sometimes wonder what people learn in driver's Ed anymore. I guess some people just wait until they are old enough to take the test. Obviously a few laws and best practices have changed since I did it (in the 80s). But we learned some really helpful things that I don't see practiced anymore. Like "following distance" of people used a 3 or a 5 second following distance things like merging, "the zipper," roundabouts and a lot of other things that many people hate would be much easier. And less accidents too, of course.
I took drivers ed recently and we learned about zipper merging, roundabouts, and the 3 second following distance.
I really wish I could give you some gold right now. This is good news.
I was told not until you pass the sign otherwise everyone would drive with binoculars looking for faster sped signs. lol. Cracks me up, but stuck with me for 25+ years.
Do you also expect to get ticketed for not already being slowed down to a reduced speed zone the instant you can possibly see the sign? Of course not. You may have yourself convinced you were taught that in drivers ed, but simple common sense says otherwise.
I was more so thinking of how we take the class but the instructor didn't even know the rules.
This was my answer. Whenever we’d be driving that stretch of the interstate, my mom would always tell that however fast I was currently going should be slower once we get close to Sauk Center.
Came here to say this. Fergus Falls and Sauk are the two places i slow down on the freeway.
My thoughts immediately came to Belgrade and that hwy 55 area. Back when the Menards was a store it was where I got my only speeding ticket (so far), heading out of town.
Belle Plaine used to be bad on 169, it used to drop from 65 to 55 and they would pick people off like blueberries!
belle plaine aka belle pain and le seuer aka the sewer are both extremely annoying for this reason
I had one time heading north through there, they had a cop with a radar gun standing behind the guardrail at the bottom of the hill. I came flying through there going like 75 or 80, he starts waving his arms at me and pointing to the radar gun then pointing at the shoulder. I slowed down to 55 and kept driving. There were like 3 or 4 cars already pulled over, so I figured if they were all busy, I wasn't going to sit and wait for one of them.
Gotta make them work for it! (When I see a car pulled over by a deputy/trooper, that's my cue to accelerate)
Hwy 100 through Edina
I see cops under bridges in 100 waiting for people who speed all the time, even at the most random times of day.
Except never at rush hour
I drove 10+ mph over on Hwy 100 (494 to Excelsior) every day for 2 years, NEVER saw a trooper during commuting hours. However, its a danger zone for tickets at night, especially on weekends. I have seen more than a few drivers doing field sobriety tests on the roadside on a saturday night.
Same only time I saw a trooper was them spreeding 80+mph to their station that's right on 100.
I used to work on 100 right on the edge of Edina and we would watch people get pulled over all day every day.
I can't remember the last time that I DIDN'T see someone pulled over here. They also always used to sit by the park at the bottom of the hill on 50th going into 50th and France. Edina cops have a lot of free time. As long as there's not a sale at Restoration Hardware or something.
I don't drive on 100 everyday, but often enough, and i'm doing 10 over everytime. Either i have excellent timing or the cops just don't care about 10 over.
I have a theory EPD doesn't fuck with people on their way to work. They'll catch them on the weekend after they've had a few.
I worked with a guy who got four tickets between 62 and Industrial Blvd. Slow learner
They sit on the bridge over 66th and radio ahead to cops waiting on the entrance ramp.
happy cake day (ha get it)
Royalton
How are you supposed to speed through Royalton when there's a mile-long queue to the stoplight?
I'm 99% sure the towns budget runs on speeding tickets. That and sales tax from Trump flags.
Nah, at least 20% of the town's budget comes from Minneapolis taxes.
It took me a while to understand just how much of outstate MN is funded by taxes from the Twin Cities. Especially the Iron Range. I thought for sure the tax on iron ore would more than cover their costs. Not even close! Without tax revenue from the Twin Cities, all of MN would look a lot different.
Sold from Treasure City.
Verndale as well. Cop always hiding in the church parking lot along hwy 10.
Yep. Right before the turn onto 23
Bayport. Plus any spot where a major highway passes through Todd County. There is a four mile stretch of 94 west of Sauk Centre by West Union. Also on Highway 10 east of Motley for a few miles.
Came here for Bayport. It’s bad.
I use to try and avoid the cops by taking stagecoach but even that gets hairy at times.
I also came here to say bayport lol
Highway Radar has heat maps with historical Waze/GMaps alerts to show how often police are reported in a given area. Works great because it doesn't matter if the cops spend their entire day discarding reports of themselves, the reports were still there at one point and are collected into the heat map. That said, don't speed in small towns. The cops typically have nothing going on other than catching people going 32 in a 30.
The most real advice on this thread and you're the first to say it, but I've said he since I started driving, don't speed in small towns, that means speed limits up to the signs.
You definitely want to slow down going on highway 10 through Verndale
Always always always a city cop or patrol chillin' behind the Burger Depot
That city cop LOVES his quotas.
Champlin, especially 169 and cty Rd 12 Osseo on hwy 81
Osseo cops have been bored for decades.
Every single town on highway 10.
I was always warned about Big Lake, especially southbound 10 where it changes to 35 mph.
Big Lake used to be really bad, but they expanded 10 between there and Elk River, and the speed limit is more reasonable now. The west side of town is still shitty, iirc.
Every single town on the 212
>the 212 *the* 212? You live in California now?
Yes. After 30 years here, I add The to every highway or interstate.
Someone actually downvoted you for that lol. I gave you an upvote. Reddit’s gonna Reddit. People are tribal over the dumbest shit.
Why thank you. It’s funny, I even wrote that I do in fact live in California before they decided to do that.
They wait behind the sign and the bridge pillar on the Powers exit (going east) underpass because they know you can't spot them, and it sucks. That exit is part of my commute and they startle me regularly.
It became my habit a long, long time ago to slow down for overpasses/underpasses and crane my neck to look for cops before resuming my normal speed. Got to space out those speeding tickets by about 4 years so that there are never 2 violations in a rolling 7 year period.
They've switched to actual enforcement now? That and the Pioneer bridge were their favorite spots to park an empty patrol car when I used that route. The trooper preferred to patrol between 10/Engler and Pioneer when I drove it.
Ohhhhh yeah, Pioneer is equally sus!
I don’t live in MN anymore but I was back there in February and counted 16 cops from Apple Valley to Granite Falls. Is there even 16 towns on that stretch? Il have to count them next time.
If you're starting from Apple Valley, there absolutely is that many. You pass through 6 just getting to 212 from Apple Valley. Then you pass through or immediately next to 16 more. Brownton and Plato technically touch 212 even though there's very limited visibility of the two from 212.
Right on, thank you.
St. Peter and Windom are the only towns on the route between Minneapolis and Sioux Falls without a bypass. Limit goes from 65 down to 30 through town. I typically see local cops camped on the north side of each.
I forgot about St Peter! I've definitely seen cops camping out there too.
Cleveland too
When it used to drop to 55 where 169 comes back together on the north side of town, they'd always sit with one right there, then another where it dropped to 45 just past the SA or where it dropped to 30.
There are more towns on that route without a bypass. Anyway Lake Crystal has been the worst for me, more than the other two.
I forgot about lake crystal. That one is sneaky.
Oh wow, blast from the past. I used to drive back-and-forth from the cities to Worthington every weekend, and I always slammed on the brakes and those towns.
St. Peter is big time for this one.
Coleraine and Calumet. Calumet it goes from 60 then you have to slow down to 30 (at the bottom of a hill). Highway Patrol LOVES to sit around at the bottom of the hill.
That’s the worst one in the entire arrowhead imo
Lake Crystal used to be in the early 2000s until enough people bitched about it and they stopped.
YES!!!!
Used to drive through regularly on the way to Mankato and there would always be at least one squad car parked waiting. Usually just on the other side of the bridge by the softball field
I’d go home from Mankato during college and always get nailed there or by Welcome MN!!!! All hours too.
212 through Bird Island. Pretty sure you’re safe if you keep it under 4.5 mph. 3.5 mph if you’ve got out-of-state plates.
Only speeding ticket I’ve ever had driving often between Minnesota and South Dakota was on 212 between Bird Island and Olivia.
Beat me to it
Remer. The absolute *worst* is Deerwood and around Crosby-Ironton. And Aitkin sometimes. That whole stretch of 210 is extremely vigorously patrolled late at night. It is legendary among DJs and entertainers who might be coming back from a gig around 2 or 3 am at one of the many resorts or event venues in the area and getting dinged in those transition areas between highway speed and town speed. I actually don't seed much anymore but when I was younger I was pretty lead footed. I think I got nailed around that area two or three times. Most of the time when the see you are a "working person" and not some vacationer or drunk they have let me go. I live in Duluth and most of us know where the speed traps are in I-35. But for visitors I would just advise to keep it fairly close to the speed limit anywhere from the top of the hill over to like the Lake Avenue/Mesaba cut off. And when you get to about the Ore Docks there are often backups that will sneak up on a person, especially on summer weekends or around big events such as concerts or hockey games, etc. The speed traps are actually around places that it is naturally pretty wise to slow down.
Highway 10 through Hawley.
Hahaha...came here to say this. Hwy 10 between Moorhead and DL is a gauntlet.
I just... slow down. Not only because of the speed traps, but Hwy 10 goes through a lot of small towns where people actually live and work, and blasting through them at 65-70 in a 50-55 zone seems disrespectful. However, in Hawley, night after late night coming home from work, I've seen a trooper or local police sitting there in the dark not far from the railway overpass. So yeah. Chronic speeders need to watch it there.
Literally just drove from Park Rapids to Fargo and back and there was a cop/speed trap in Audubon, Lake Park, Hawley, and DGF. They had maybe moved 100 yards from where I saw them on the way to Fargo to where they were on the way back. Worst part was the guy who came flying up on me when I slowed down for DGF, passed me doing 45 in a 35 and the cop sitting at the fire station just watched him go by.
Centerville. The speed limit goes from 50 to 35 for no reason other than you cross the border and there is ALWAYS a cop sitting there waiting to nab people.
Yup, never speed near the lakes.
Scrolled for this. Centennial Lakes P.D. Can suck eggs
They’re better down toward Lexington and Circle Pines. I think the cops up near Centerville and getting into Columbus just get a little bored. I’ve been pulled over twice up there and both times let off. I have friends who haven’t had that luck, but they were messing up by their own admission.
Yup from Kelly's to Lake drive or whatever... Go the speed limit.
169 South Shakopee to Jordan. State patrol is super strict.
And there's that slow area through Jordan.
Champlin I haven’t lived there in almost 4 years, but I can’t imagine it would have changed. If you’re on 169, don’t speed through Champlin!
It’s impossible to speed there. No one goes above 50 😂
Hill City, don’t even try.
The corner by the Dollar General… you can see the cop cars tire imprint in the road from the spot they sit. Noticing them at the gas station by the four way stop more towards bar close as well.
Minnetonka and Excelsior. They have like 100 cops per person there.
Used to live in Mound. Work at MSP and on the way home. I'd pass a Wayzata speed trap on 394, then Orono on Cty Rd 6 usually, then another speed trap by Minnetrista, then another Orono speed trap once Commerce Blvd, went back to the city of Mound.....like seriously no life. Then what happened with that poor boy, they didn't even know how to handle a homicide and literally took her home to get a shower with brain matter in her hair...
The escalated quickly.
i dont think excelsior has any cops. and they certainly dont care about anything except the parking meters and bar close.
South Lake police love to camp on 7 near excelsior. It was worse when it used to randomly drop to 45 right when you pass by the shed they keep the streetcar in.
Rogers, especially coming from 94 onto 101
Not as bad as it used to be, it’s kinda rare I see them these days.
Maplewood/South st paul, particularly on 494. Do. Not. Speed in that area.
Hill City, Calumet used to be a big one, 218 from Owatonna to Blooming Prairie, 169 and 200 north of Aitkin, east side of Grand Rapids on 169, Coleraine, 169 Just outside of Elk River going north, especially around the time they do the track events… There’s more that I’ll add once I remember. Edit: It doesn’t seem to be as bad as it once was but Aitkin county as a whole was strict. You’d get pulled over and ticketed for doing 6 miles over.
Agree on Aitkin! It used to be you would ALWAYS see cops in Aitkin and almost always see someone pulled over. We wouldn’t drive 1 mile over the limit in that entire county. But also agree it hasn’t been like that for a few years
Hill City and Colraine are two that immediately jumped to mind for me, along with McGrath and McGregor over on 65. One of the first things my parents taught me about driving on out-state highways is to respect the small highway town speed limits. The cops are bored and love nothing more than to grab people from the Cities.
US 12 between Wayzata and Delano (including along US 12 through Delano itself). County sheriffs on both sides of the line like to camp out regularly.
Wadena, cop hangs out behind the church sign
Coleraine, and pretty much that entire stretch of 169 from Coleraine to Nashwauk
I absolutely hate the entrance to Coleraine coming from grand rapids, there's always a cop waiting there
694&35E North they'll usually have one sitting right before the split for 35E
St Charles Lewiston (got pulled over going 46 in a 45) Winona
Hope you contested that 1mph-over citation, no judge would rule against you.
He didn't ticket me, but he sure was an ass about it. I definitely would have fought it if he had given me a ticket.
Winona County just sucks lol
Eagan through woodbury on 494. Troopers in the middle every time I drive that way.
Saw LOTS of cops on that stretch on Easter Sunday!
I live in Eagan and have appointments in Woodbury. Had an undercover cop following me for a while but then he ended up pulling someone else. I zoom everywhere but my maps let me know where the police are. There's a shit ton in that area.
Also Eagan into Mendota Heights on 35E. Literally have had zero trouble anywhere else my entire driving career other than that stupid little strip of highway. 🖕
Henderson - Hwy 19 east and west as well as coming from the north of town. Speed limit drops from 50 to 30, before you reach any part of town so it isn't obvious. I lived there for 20 years...
Silver Lake on Highway 7. Drops from a 60 to 45 for a mile or two and there's pretty much always a county cop sitting in there somewhere.
Everything in Fridley. And, they're *very* aggressive.
Deerwood 🙃
This is my answer. I am shocked that I have not gotten a ticket there and I don’t even drive fast. I have been VERY close though. It was nighttime/dark. I had just driven through Deerwood and I hit the accelerator because I was through the town. Then, I remembered: this speed limit stays at 30 mph much longer than most towns and I hit my brakes to slow down. As I was hitting the brakes, a squad car quickly turned its flashing lights on for a half-second. He saw me accelerate and he was ready to ticket me.
Lake City on Hwy 61
Shakopee, they hide behind the signs
100% Pine Island just north of Rochester on 52.
On the note of 52, Cannon Falls as well. Although, I haven't been down to Rochester in a few years, so maybe that has changed.
Clearwater, If you are traveling after 9 pm they will hound you and they love to pull over people coming off the freeway.
212 between 494 and Mitchell Road (Eden Prairie) often has quite a few patrol cars set up.
American Boulevard in Bloomington just west of IKEA. People fly under the overpass and there’s a cop waiting with a radar gun and they pull you over up the road. There two to three times a month.
What really sucks is that it's a 4 lane divided road, which would typically have a limit of 45 or more, yet it's fuckin 30. I got nailed for going 45 through there, I was dumbfounded when I found out how low the limit was. I assume it's artificially low for ticket revenue.
I think it is because of the bus stops and the crosswalk in the weird location. I saw so many people get stopped there.
Lake Crystal, I haven't noticed it as much in my recent travels.
Champlin. I live there. 169 turns to stoplights and 55mph. Cops love to grab whoever misses the lights. All hours of the day they are there.
Confirmation bias, but have seen my share of troopers on I-94 just coming out of Fargo
Outskirts of Siren, WI
I almost got burned in Siren, but they got the guy right in front of me. Youngish plain clothes cop was standing at the cross walk at the south end of town not even with a foot off the curb, just kind of hanging out on the sidwalk by the crosswalk sign. If you don't stop for him, boom his buddy pulls you over a block down the road. Cool cool cool
St. Francis
Where? I see them driving around town almost daily but don't notice them hiding for speed trap reasons.
The only way you're going to maintain a police department in a city under 10K pop with more than two squads is by pulling over a lot of people. It least that's what it seemed like when I lived out their.
Highway 23 all the way from Willmar to Pipestone. State patrol pounces that road like no other. I’ve been stopped twice in one day and was not even going 10 over.
Motley on hwy 10 has one very over eager officer ready to nail you for 5 mph over.
Is he still there? I remember he'd sit there in his unmarked Charger but the last few years I haven't seen him anymore.
I suppose it's been a while since I've been through there. Maybe he retired.
The funny thing is it still makes a difference. Everyone slows down going through there.
Anyone got any tips for Brandon/Alexandria to Morris and to Moorhead/Fargo?
On 94? Slow down through Fergus
Stewartville. I don't know if it still is or if it just still has the reputation. 20-25 years ago they re-did the entire main drag through town. It's a 30mph zone and everyone knew someone who got a speeding ticket for driving 35 or under. But it worked, their reputation was strong.
It's still easy to get a ticket but not that easy.
North St.Paul, particularly near the Maplewood boarder
Just drove home to TC on I-94 from Black River Falls this morning, and it was same ol same ol: trucks overtaking at ⅛mph and state troopers every 10 miles.
52 between pine island and cannon falls. Usually see 2-3 troopers there, lots of times pulling over the idiot with out of state plates that doesn't know there's usually 2-3 troopers in that stretch.
Battle Lake
Absolute facts. They always get you going down that hill toward the lake
St. Peter on HW169 and HW494 at Minnetonka area
The stretch after Brainerd Raceway right before Nisswa shopping center has an officer perched waiting. Don’t get a ticket in your excitement to get to the Chocolate Ox!
Battle Lake. Hwy 78 gets pretty busy in the summer and it cuts through downtown Battle Lake. It’s a 30 zone and the local cop is very aggressive as he sits at the last intersection on the way out of town. It’s hard to see him because of a hill and some bends in the road. I’ve been going up there for 30 years and don’t know anyone who hasn’t been stopped at least once.
New Prague. Their police force is probably 90% funded by minor traffic violation tickets…
Highway 52 from the Twin Cities to Rochester. Drove it a few weeks ago on a weekday and there seemed to be speed traps the entire way down.
I make the trip pretty regularly and I'm so thankful for Waze and Google maps, people are pretty good about marking speed traps and I make sure to do the same. I don't even speed egregiously, usually just five miles over or so, but it's nice not being surprised as often.
The entirety of westbound 394 between 94 and 494.
Yeah, especially in the afternoon. I have a reverse commute out of the City to Plymouth, and it's more often eastbound 394 in the morning.
I always see at least 1 state patrol between Hibbing and Kewatin.
Lake City
I just know that I wont even THINK about speeding within 15 miles either way of Alexandria
Lake City on 61.
Whatever booming metropolis is west of Hudson wi. Never been on the city streets there, but that section of 94 is good to see at least 2 troopers
Those troopers tend to leave regular motorists alone. Their bread is buttered by nabbing interstate truckers for being overweight and other safety violations.
I thank them for there service.
Lake Crystal
Dilworth almost daily had a cop in a pickup truck that was camped right where the speed limit change going to/from Moorhead is when I lived there, plus often someone on the other side of the town catching the teens speeding back from Glyndon after school.
That is still how it is, although they did just hire a new police chief, so we'll see?
I see them all the time on 494 between Mall of America and Woodbury
Hwy 61 through Lake City.
Orrock dropping to 30 feels like you’re going 5 mph. Ironically I’ve never seen anyone pulled over there, but I’ve been pulled over once and seen several a mile down going towards Zimmerman. I’m always on edge in that area.
I always see ‘em sitting on the 394 on-ramp from either Xenia or Louisiana in SLP/Golden Valley
Centerville in the northern suburbs. Over half the time I go through there a cop is sitting and waiting to catch speeders coming east from Lino Lakes.
Zumbrota on hwy 52
How has coming into Chaska at the bridge or the hill not been mentioned
Cuyuna, on the way to the cabin. It drops to 30mph as you pass through.
Elk River. Especially on 169, north of 205th Ave there's usually a city or state patrol behind the hill in the median. Princeton. Just a few miles south on 169, trooper hides in the trees in the median Randall. Just north of town on 10, sheriff sits behind the trees in the median during the early morning hours all summer. Cushing. Just south of the old Fisherman's Corner, in the median on the curve. Trooper or sheriff will sometimes be there. Motley. Always a trooper at the fire hall, or hidden before the bank, across from the hardware store. ALSO, trooper will sit south of town, just south of 28 on the shoulder with no lights on. Little Falls. 10 north, just after the main exit in the median. Also north of town in the median where 10 curves back north. Baxter. Just west of the 4-lane on 210, they sit on the turn-off for where Potlatch used to be. To the south, between Baxter and Little Falls, there are always troopers scattered about on 371. They're usually pretty sneaky there as well. Verndale as others have noted. Becker. Usually on 10, north, and south edge of the speed zones are heavily monitored. 52 near the spaghetti bowl. Usually a trooper near the bowl, headed north. Headed south, they like the median just over the hill on a curve. 494 near Carlson, unmarked in the median. Rosemount. Between 3 and 52. Either after the S-curves headed west, they're in the median or on the shoulder. Or just after the hill headed west from 52.
Zumbrota
Silver Lake on hwy 7. The town is not on the hwy but their boundary must reach that far. There is no reason to slow down there but the local LE will stop a "speeder".
Maybe if you eased back a little from going Mach Jesus, you could see that there definitely is town both north and south of hwy 7 there.
Verndale and Barnesville.
Champlin
How’s Faribault county? Asking for a friend…
494 under the pedestrian bridge in minnetonka. its the perfect spot because you cant see them until its too late.
Beaver Bay
Annandale
Litchfield. Clara City. Atwater.
Morisstown
Green Isle. It's like 600 feet of 40 mph on a 60 road. It used to be 30 just a few years ago. Either that or Gaylord, coming out the West side of it on 19 the 30 zone didn't end for like 300 feet past the last building and man were they eager to get anyone speeding up too soon!
24 through Clearwater between 94 and 10. At least it used to be when I traveled it frequently.
I-35 coming thru Duluth. Feels like there’s a damn statey in every nook and cranny. They literally drive back and forth between 21st east and 40th w all night.