Changes in highway designations include renaming stretch for fallen soldier

Nicole Amor was a resident of White Bear Lake who served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 20 years before being killed by a drone strike in Kuwait on March 1, 2026, among the first American casualties in the region after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran the previous day.

She will be memorialized on a stretch of Ramsey County State-Aid Highway 96 from U.S. Highway 61 to Interstate 35E near her home, that section of road being designated “Master Sergeant Nicole Amor Memorial Highway.”

in the memorial is part of a new law on certain highway designations. Among its provisions are establishing the requirements of a road authority for such memorials, including designing, erecting and maintaining signs after identifying money from nonpublic sources sufficient to pay all related costs. The Department of Transportation must act as a fiscal agent for those funds. The law also sets out a process for removing signs.

Sponsored by Rep. Bjorn Olson (R-Fairmont) and Sen. Heather Gustafson (DFL-Vadnais Heights), the law took effect May 15, 2026.

HF4987*/SF5149/CH94

HF4987* / SF5149 / CH94