An 11-mile stretch of Hwy. 23 near Cold Spring was officially designated the “Officer Tom Decker Memorial Highway” this afternoon, when Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill passed by the Legislature.

The designation honors Cold Spring Police Officer Tom Decker, who was shot and killed while on duty in November.

Members of Decker’s family and local officials were at the public signing in the governor’s reception room at the Capitol.

While no one has been charged in the death, a man who’d been questioned in the case killed himself in January. And there’s a dispute between Decker’s ex-wife and his widow over the disposition of money donated after the shooting.