In Minneapolis and Golden Valley, portions of the route are also signed as Olson Memorial Highway.

MN 55 serves as a northwest–southeast route between Elbow Lake, Glenwood, Paynesville, Annandale, Buffalo, Plymouth, Minneapolis, Mendota Heights, and Hastings.

MN 55 begins at the Bois de Sioux River, at the Minnesota—North Dakota state line near Tenney.

MN 55 then continues independently again to Hoffman, Kensington, Farwell, and Lowry before reaching the city of Glenwood.

The route continues southeast to Sedan and Brooten before reaching its junction with US 71 in Belgrade.

MN 55 enters the Twin Cities area at Rockford and Greenfield, continuing east to Medina and Plymouth.

While the entire route is designated as the Olson Memorial Highway, it is only consistently signed as such between Interstate 494 and N 7th Street in Minneapolis.

[citation needed] An area known as Camp Coldwater, considered by some as the "birthplace of Minnesota", was dug up during some construction.

[3] In July 2005, the section of MN 55 that runs through downtown Minneapolis was turned back to local maintenance.