Minnesota Senate votes to rename section of Highway 5 in honor of Prince

A bill to rename a section of Highway 5 in Chanhassen after one of Minnesota’s music legends is headed to the governor.

Lawmakers in the Minnesota Senate overwhelmingly voted Thursday to honor Prince by renaming a section of the roadway that goes through Chanhassen to “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway.”

The bill will allow crews with Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to put up purple signs along the stretch in the city. Prince’s studio and home, Paisley Park, is located there.

“It is very special to see this legislation to honor Prince Rogers Nelson through to the end,” Sen. Julia Coleman (R-Waconia), one of the bill’s authors, said. “This has been a project that I’ve been pushing since my time of the Chanhassen City Council. Prince’s profound legacy lives on in Minnesota and in our community of Chanhassen. Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway is a meaningful way we can commemorate the great accomplishments of a man known and admired worldwide, but who chose to call Chanhassen home. I am thrilled to the Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway become a reality.”

The bill passed the Minnesota House on the seventh anniversary of the musician’s death. It passed by a vote of 121-0. Prince died on April 21, 2016.

The bill now heads to Gov. Tim Walz to be signed into law.