In 1941, the highway was realigned through Becker County. It now took a more direct route to Osage through Snellman, instead of traveling northward along the shore of Shell Lake, east through Ponsford, and southeast to Osage; the portion of this former routing from Ponsford eastward became State Highway 225 in 1949.
The segment between the new alignment and Detroit Lakes was paved that year, and the realigned section was paved in 1946. The remaining portion from Highway 371 to Remer was paved in 1947, and the paving from Remer to Hill City was completed in 1950.