Skip to main content

Great Lakes Road Trip Day 3 Part 1; Brighton, MI to M-22

By
Given it was a Saturday when I was heading up to the Leelanau Peninsula I figured getting out early would be the best course of action.  Having not lived in Michigan for several decades I almost had forgotten how late in the day people really get going.  Out west people are out and moving around by 6 AM but in the Mid-West it still seems to be least 9-10 AM at least even on the weekends.  With that all said planned a central route through the state which took me up I-96 to US 127 in the outskirts of Lansing.






When I got my first driver's license I used to drive US 127 through downtown Lansing almost everyday.  At the time US 127 was a 55 MPH freeway, it still strikes me as odd that it is 70 MPH these days through the city.  I recall flying back from Arizona one year to go to a wedding in New Jersey that my Dad had rented a van to transport everyone in and somehow managed to hit a deer in downtown Lansing on US 127.  We kept the van for the duration of the trip but it had a large clump of hair that was sticking out of left front fender the entire time.  I still don't know how a deer would have gotten onto US 127, the freeway literally is in the heart of the city.  I still think that US 27 should have been swapped with US 127 when the former was decomissioned in Michigan.






I still remember when this was north terminus of US 127 at I-69.  US 27 ran on a expressway north through Dewitt Township before the new freeway was built.  The freeway ramps up to 75 MPH north of I-69 which I'm to understand is brand new this year before becoming a 65 MPH expressway north of St. Johns.


I made my way up to US 10 and cut west towards M-115.  After leaving US 10 for M-115 west there was no more freeways the rest of the day.






I took M-115 all the way to M-55 and continued west towards the coast of Lake Michigan.





At the western terminus of M-55 I picked up US 31 and headed north to M-22 to start my route clinch for the day.



Labels:

Comments

Adam said…
This reminds me a lot of my trip eight years ago to Michigan!
http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2009/09/exploring-northwest-michigan.html

9:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Thurmond

By
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is best known for whitewater rafting and other forms of adventure tourism.  Yet, found in the hollows and isolated valleys are quiet farms and former coal mining towns.  Well off the beaten path and isolated from much of its surroundings, Thurmond provides a unique view into Central West Virginia's industrial past. Thurmond began as a railroad town in the late 1800s.  Sparked by the arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the local coal industry, Thurmond quickly grew into a sizeable transportation and coal center.  When it incorporated as a town in 1903, Thurmond was a full-fledged community - home to two banks, two hotels, and many other services and stores. A CSX freight train passes the old coaling tower in Thurmond.  It was here that many steam locomotives would refill and refuel. Thurmond was home to a C&O railyard which serviced the numerous steam engines passing through the narrow valley.  Thu...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tale of Tollhouse Road, western California State Route 168 and failed Piute Pass Highway

By
Western California State Route 168 is entirely located in Fresno County and is linked historically to the Tollhouse Road corridor.   Tollhouse Road is one of the oldest highways in the Sierra Nevada range of Fresno County. The corridor presently begins in at Clovis Avenue in downtown Clovis and extends northeast to Huntington Lake. In 1866 the Woods Brothers established mining claims on Pine Ridge. In 1867 Fresno County would grant the brothers a toll franchise to construct a roadway to the desirable logging areas atop Pine Ridge and near Dinkey Creek. The Woods would establish a tollhouse at the start of their franchise road and lumber mill. The lumber mill attracted settlers which led to the establishment of the mountain town of Tollhouse. Fresno County would purchase the Tollhouse Road in 1878 and make it a public highway. The county would remove the tolls and incorporate the corridor into the existing county road network. Prior to the establishment of Clovis in 1...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old Dunlap Road (former California State Route 180 in Yokuts Valley)

By
When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.  The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route...
Post a Comment
Read more