Lakeville is directly served by Interstate 35, as well as Cedar Avenue/MN 77 to the east.
Only a one major road goes through the city of Lakeville, Minnesota, and that road is the freeway of Interstate 35. And thus, we shall be talking about local roads that you can use in order to access the inside of the city. But first, I’ll be giving you some information about the freeway that is integral to the city’s economy as well as to your day there, if you ever visit the rapidly growing city that is. Anyway, without further ado, let’s talk about Interstate 35. The freeway comes from the south, from the neighboring state of Iowa, and enters the city of Lakeville at around its southwestern corner. It passes through an intersection with 210th Street West, and comes close to a McDonalds and a Walmart. The road keeps on going north, and keeps on going that way really. It passes through Lake Marion, and goes near Ritter Farm Park. The Interstate intersects with 185th Street West, then it crosses paths with Kenwood Trail. Before exiting the city’s administrative boundaries, 162nd Street West. The road splits into 35W and 35E just a few miles outside the city’s borders. And that’s it for the Interstate.
Another important road serving the Lakeville area is Cedar Avenue, or more formally known as Minnesota State Highway 77, it can also be called County Road 23. It first intersects with Dakota County 50 and Lakeville Boulevard, and becoming concurrent with the former for a bit, splitting with it just northwest of Farmington High School. The road, like Interstate 35, goes straight north, though this road has less bends than the former. It then forms an intersection with Dodd Boulevard, after this, it exits the city after intersecting with another street that skirts the edges of the city; 160th Street West.
Before its abandonment in 1970, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad’s Hastings & Dakota Subdivision went through the center of Lakeville and served various industries. Short-line railroad Progressive Rail is based in Lakeville, and owns the right-of-way of the MN&S Subdivision between Lakeville and Northfield. Between Lakeville and Savage the MN&S Subdivision is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, but has been out of service since the 1990s. In 2009 Progressive Rail began using a segment of the out-of-service tracks for railcar storage, causing local controversy. The Dan Patch Corridor would go through Lakeville, but has been banned from discussion and funding by the Minnesota State Legislature since 2002. The City of Lakeville opposes public funding of a passenger rail line on the MN&S Subdivision through the community.
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad; often referred to as the Milwaukee Road (reporting mark MILW); was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1980. The company went through several official names and faced bankruptcy on multiple occasions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, in 1980, it abandoned its Pacific Extension (Montana, Idaho, and Washington) as a cost-cutting measure following a 1977 bankruptcy.