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Starting this summer, Prince fans will be able to take a cruise down a highway named in his honor.

The Minnesota Senate voted 55-5 Thursday to pass a bill that designates a seven-mile stretch of Highway 5 as Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. The bill heads next to Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. 

The highway runs past the performing artist’s Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen. 

Prince died in 2016 from an opioid overdose. His longtime friend Mark Webster proposed the highway name change in Prince’s honor. Webster celebrated the bill’s passage at the Capitol on Thursday. It passed the Minnesota House of Representatives with unanimous support last month.

“What I've known about Prince, Prince never asked nobody for anything,” Webster said. “I think this is one of the greatest gifts we can give him. The city of Chanhassen, state of Minnesota, the world – he deserves every bit of this.”

Lawmakers on Thursday donned purple apparel in honor of Prince’s signature color. And the bill’s author Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, made the connection as she urged senators to support the bill.

“I’d say vote purple but our button options are red and green. So I implore a green vote today," she said. 

Signs along the highway stretch will also be purple. The Minnesota Department of Transportation already has the signs in the works. House bill sponsor Rep. Lucy Rehm, DFL-Chanhassen, said she hopes the signs will be up as soon as early June.

Prince’s fans raised money privately to fund the ongoing maintenance and new signs for the highway.

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The Minnesota Senate on Thursday approved a bill renaming part of a Chanhassen highway after the late performing artist.

Take your little red Corvette down new Minnesota roadway named for Prince

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