On the East Bank, CR 122 follows Washington Avenue and is the primary route through the Stadium Village district of the University.

In 1933, the Minnesota State Legislature added the corridor formed by Washington and University Avenues to the state highway system as part of Legislative Route 104: Beginning at the present terminus of Minnesota Constitutional Route 3 on the easterly limits of the city of St. Paul, thence extending in a northwesterly direction through the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the present point of beginning of Constitutional Route 3 on the westerly limits of the city of Minneapolis.By the time the Minnesota Department of Highways had laid out the numbering in 1934, this corridor served the following former route numbers: US 12, US 52, US 218 (later MN 218), and MN 56.

[citation needed] In July 1981,[citation needed] US 12 was rerouted onto I-94 between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, while the route of US 52 was changed to use the Third Avenue Bridge, replacing the southernmost piece of MN 47 on University Avenue, and using 3rd and 4th Streets to I-94 at exit number 230.

[citation needed][6] The definition of Legislative Route 385 was repealed in 1996,[7] and in November 1996, MN 122 was transferred to Hennepin County maintenance.

[8] When the Green Line light rail was constructed through the University's Stadium Village, it was decided that the stretch of Washington Avenue between East River Road and Walnut Street remain open only to mass transit and taxi traffic.