The northern section of the roadway, between Rogers and Elk River, is 6.9 miles (11.1 km) in length.

This is a busy highway, well-used on weekends by Twin Cities travelers going west on Interstate 94/US Highway 52 (I-94/US 52) through Elk River and continuing north on US 169 to Mille Lacs Lake and other lakes in Central Minnesota.

This amount of use led Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to build interchanges along the route and convert the portion of MN 101 in Wright County to a full freeway.

This ramp allows traffic connecting from westbound I-94 to northbound MN 101 to bypass the stoplights at the interchange and the South Diamond Lake Road intersection.

MN 101 originally had a longer mileage, starting in Elk River, continuing south through Rogers, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Wayzata, Minnetonka, and Chanhassen before crossing the Minnesota River and terminating in Shakopee.

Beginning in 1988, the section of MN 101 between Chanhassen and Rogers has been turned back to county maintenance in several stages.

Upon crossing the bridge, old MN 101 entered Elk River and immediately ended at US 10 and US 169 via short pieces of Main Street and Jackson Avenue.