Its first Minnesota junction with Interstate 35 is just southeast of Albert Lea. The highway enters the city proper, reaching downtown before returning to end at Interstate 35. Its total length in Minnesota is . U.S. 65 is one of three Minnesota U.S.-signed highways to carry the same number as an existing state marked highway within the state, the others being Highways 61 and 169. The Minnesota section of U.S. 65 is defined as part of Route 1 in Minnesota Statutes § 161.114(2). History At its creation in 1926, U.S. 65 ran from St. Paul, Minnesota to Vidalia, Louisiana. In the 1930s the road briefly was signed to Swan River, Minnesota. Its current endpoints were established in 1980 when a segment paralleling Interstate 35 was dropped in Minnesota. Until 2005, US 65 ended at U.S. Route 61 in Natchez, Mississippi. US 65 formerly extended to New Orleans, along the same route as US 61 from Natchez to New Orleans. From 1926 to 1934, the original U.S. 65 from Faribault, Minnesota to Saint Paul, followed what today is Minnesota Highway 3. After 1934, U.S. 65 was realigned to follow the present day route of I-35/I-35W from Faribault to Minneapolis. The section of U.S. 65 from Burnsville to Minneapolis originally followed Lyndale Avenue. Even after the completion of I-35/35W, the U.S. 65 designation ran to Minneapolis until 1980. In 1980, U.S. 65 in Minnesota merged with Interstate 35 until it separates in downtown Minneapolis leaving the city in the Central Avenue corridor. Beginning at Washington Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota Highway 65 travels north through Cambridge, Mora, and McGregor before terminating at an intersection with U.S. Highway 71 in Littlefork (just south of International Falls). Mississippi In 2005, US 65 as a signed route was truncated from its signed southern terminus at U.S. Route 61 in Natchez, Mississippi to its current terminus at Clayton, Louisiana. As part of the truncation, U.S. Route 425 was extended south to Natchez. Legally, the Mississippi section of U.S. 65 is defined in Mississippi Code Annotated § 65-3-3, as follows: "U.S. 65- Begins at the west end of the Mississippi River Bridge at Natchez, Adams County, and extends in an easterly direction to U.S. 61 and thence continues south jointly with U.S. 61 to the Mississippi-Louisiana state line south of Woodville, Wilkinson County." Arkansas Through central Arkansas, old 65 (now Highway 365) follows close to Interstate 40