71. Subsequently, US 371 was recycled and reassigned to a concatenation of state highways in Arkansas and Louisiana to form a new US 371 in 1994. The current US 371 has no relationship to the old US 371 (now Minnesota 371) other than being associated with US 71 as the parent number. Improvements For the most part Highway 371 has been a high-volume, two-lane highway. Because of increases in traffic, especially during times of peak recreational demand, Highway 371 has been the focus of many highway upgrades in the area: In 2005, the remaining segment of the project that converted Highway 371 to a four-lane expressway from Little Falls to Baxter was completed. This project included a bypass of Brainerd, which opened in the year 2000. The old route through Brainerd is now bannered as Highway 371 Business. Plans are also in the works to upgrade the segment of Highway 371 from Nisswa to Pine River to a four-lane expressway. No date has been announced for its continued expansion as of May 2020. Major intersections Highway 371 Business Before the opening of the Brainerd bypass in the year 2000, Old Highway 371 went through downtown Brainerd and then proceeded west on a two-mile (3 km) concurrency with Highway 210 before resuming north at its current intersection in Baxter. Due to the addition of new highway mileage from the new bypass, the old route of Highway 371 was a candidate for turnback to local jurisdiction. Because of local preference to keep the old routing of Highway 371 as part of the state trunk highway system, it was agreed that portions of other highways in the surrounding area would be turnbacked instead: MN 18 from MN 210 to MN 25, and the two-block long MN 322 would be given to the city of Brainerd maintenance, and MN 25 north of MN 210 to its terminus at Merrifield would be given to Crow Wing County maintenance as an extension of CR 3. The route of Old Highway 371 that had gone through downtown Brainerd and then proceeded west to Baxter was then redesignated Highway 371 Business in the year 2000. The business route is five miles (8.0 km) in length. See also References External links 371 71-3 371 Transportation in Morrison County, Minnesota Transportation in Crow Wing County, Minnesota Transportation in Cass County, Minnesota