Highway 610 gives Minnesotans a lasting way to remember the Hortmans

(FOX 9) - A stretch of Highway 610 now carries the Hortman name on a road people close to Melissa Hortman said meant a lot to her.

Why Highway 610 mattered

The backstory:

The drive between Coon Rapids and Maple Grove is a lot easier than it was a decade ago because of Highway 610. Thursday, the state unveiled signs naming a section of the road in honor of Mark and Melissa Hortman, who were assassinated in 2025.

Melissa Hortman was very involved in getting funding for the connection. She was there when the state broke ground on the highway, and her son, Colin, took a photo, possibly the same one she kept on her desk for years.

Physically, the road split Melissa Hortman's House district in half, but her feelings about it were wholehearted. It was a passion project.

Dig deeper:

Sen. John Hoffman said, "One of her first questions she asked me in 2012 when I wanted to run was, so what do you think about finishing Highway 610?"

Getting the road built was not at the top of most lawmakers' agendas, but Gov. Tim Walz said, "This kind of stuff is the hard work that makes life better for people, and nobody knew that better than Melissa Hortman."

The ‘Hortman Memorial Highway’

What they're saying:

Walz said it was "a pretty emotional day."

Colin Hortman stood on the highway again Thursday with his sister, Sophie, and they saw a chance for Minnesotans to have a long memory of their parents.

"I think someone said it before that Melissa and Mark weren't necessarily spotlight people, and so I think they would very much appreciate that we're out here today and not tucked away in an office, and we're on their highway remembering them forever," Colin Hortman said. 

Big picture view:

Other tributes to the Hortmans include the naming of a park around the Capitol complex for both of them, a community solar garden program for Melissa and a Lake County bike trail for Mark.

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