Highway 194 runs concurrent with U.S. Highway 53 for a 6-mile (9.7 km) stretch, from Lindahl Road in Hermantown to Trinity Road, near Duluth's Miller Hill Mall.

The Mesaba Avenue portion of Highway 194 offers an excellent view of the city of Duluth and Lake Superior.

[3] The route was renumbered again, to 194, c. 1959 to avoid duplication with Interstate Highway 94 that was being built in Minnesota during the early 1960s.

[3] The section of present day State Highway 194 between U.S. 53 in Hermantown and downtown Duluth was authorized in 1933.

The original alignment of this section was from U.S. 53 (Miller Trunk Highway) down Central Entrance to 6th Avenue East and then to Second and Third Streets in downtown Duluth (where it intersected then-Highway 61 as Second / Third Streets downtown).