M-153 is a 25.127-mile State Trunkline located in southeast Michigan. The highway begins at US Route 12 (Michigan Avenue) at the Detroit city limit and largely follows Ford Road west to M-14 in Washtenaw County. M-153 was designated as a State Trunkline during December 1930. The corridor at the time was constructed to Canton Center Road and was planned to be extended to the vicinity of Jackson. The Trunkline was constructed to US Route 12 at Plymouth Road in 1934 and the extension to Jackson was cancelled in 1935. Numerous improvements to M-153 occurred through the remainder of the 20th century as it became an increasingly traveled urban surface highway. Part 1; the history of M-153 M-153 between Wyoming Road at the Detroit city limit is carried via Ford Road just west of Frazier Lake Road. The corridor is named in honor Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford's father William. William Ford settled at what is now the corner of Ford Road and Greenfield Road circa 1847 in Dea
Santa Fe Grade Road of Merced County is an approximately thirty-mile mostly unsurfaced highway built on a repurposed railroad grade. Santa Fe Grade Road begins at California State Route 140 near Gustine and terminates to the southeast at the Fresno County line in South Dos Palos. The grade was constructed by the San Francisco & San Joaquin Railroad during the 1880s but was found to be consistently flood prone. The grade was later sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1898 which later abandoned it to Merced County. Part 1; the history of Santa Fe Grade Road The origin of Santa Fe Grade Road lies in the 1880s when San Francisco & San Joaquin Valley Railroad president Claus Spreckels was attempting to acquire right-of-way. Spreckels' line was in competition with the Southern Pacific Railroad to build a line in western San Joaquin Valley. Any prospective westside line would have to cross the properties owned by the so-called "Cattle King of Californi