Since its terminus moved to I-35W in 1980, growth and development has seen the highway becoming more of a freeway, with controlled intersections being rebuilt as grade-separated interchanges.

MN 36 serves as an east–west highway between the cities of Roseville, Little Canada, Maplewood, North St. Paul, Oakdale, Oak Park Heights, and Stillwater.

It then meets County Road 42 (CR 42, Rice Street) at an offset single-point urban interchange.

[5] It passes the cities of Grant and Lake Elmo before reaching Stillwater and Oak Park Heights.

It then turned to the east on a bituminous surface until it reached US 61, at which point it became a gravel road to its terminus with US 212 near Stillwater.

The changes included turning the intersection with CR 68 (McKnight Road) into a grade-separated interchange and building an overpass at Margaret Street, removing its access to MN 36.

The full closure in 2007 allowed the project to be completed more quickly and at a lower cost than a staged reconstruction.

[14] Construction of a new tight diamond interchange at English Street started in 2013 to replace an existing controlled intersection.

The project also included two roundabouts on Hilton Trail on either side of the highway, one at 60th Street North and another at an extension of Viking Drive.

At Chestnut St., MN 36 turned east and crossed the St. Croix River on the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge.

[19] The Stillwater Bridge had to be closed frequently for repairs,[20] and at over 80 years old was deemed obsolete and vulnerable to failure.

[26] In 2019, construction began on a $22 million interchange at MN 36 and CSAH 13 (Hadley Avenue) in Oakdale, partially as a result of high crash rates.

[27] A partial cloverleaf interchange was constructed in 2021 at the intersection of MN 36 and CSAH 15 north (Manning Avenue) just west of Stillwater.

The recommended layout is an overpass with buttonhook ramps,[28] and final design selection is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.