The Missing Stanwood-to-Remus Segment of Michigan M-20
Brian Reynolds
A follow-up to the exchange of a couple weeks ago about the Stanwood - to -
near - Remus segment of never - built M-20.
I have found, on the 'net, a resource I was not previously aware of.
You may already be aware of the MDOT right - of - way books. MDOT
publishes one for each county for state trunklines in that county.
For select counties only (not Barry or Kent yet) the right of way maps are
available on-line. Follow this link.
http://www.mdot.state.mi.us/rowfiles/index.cfm
Once there, click on Mecosta.pdf. Note that clickable pages 33 through 36
inclusive represent the still - missing - link of M-20 east of Stanwood.
When you check out the individual pages, you will see the route and geometry
of the alignment. Take note that MDOT already has acquired most of the 12+
miles of right of way for this.
At the far west end (page 33) M-20 was to intersect with then-US-131
(Northland Drive) about 600-700 feet north of 8 Mile Road. The entire 1+
mile of right-of-way for the portion in Mecosta Township was purchased
between late 1946 and late 1947. The westernmost 1/2 mile of right of way
in Austin Township was not purchased, the next 1/4 mile was purchased, the
last almost 1/2 mile to the end of page 33 was not purchased.
Page 34 shows most of the rest of the route through Austin Township, but
only small portions of the right of way were purchased. For 1/4 mile in
Section 20, both sides of the road were purchased, for the next 1/4 mile,
only the North side was purchased, all in early 1938. Another 1/4 mile of
half-width in Section 23 was acquired from the Conservation Department
(modern DNR) in 1939.
Pages 35 and 36 show that the right of way for was purchased for the rest of
the route, the east mile in Austin Township, and the full 5+ miles in Morton
Township, smaller parts in the years 1937-1939, most in 1946-1948.
All but the westernmost 3 miles and the east 1 1/2 mile of the route was
along present-day Buchanan Road. No right of way has been purchased since
1948. For about 8 miles of the 12+ mile project, the right of way is owned
by MDOT. For the other 4 miles, portions have been acquired. One has to
wonder why this project never was completed. Who in MDOT would know the
story?
--
Brian Reynolds
Hastings Michigan
Barry L. Camp
decades upon end and never finish a highway.
Marc Fannin
> I have found, on the 'net, a resource I was not previously aware of.
>
> You may already be aware of the MDOT right - of - way books. MDOT
> publishes one for each county for state trunklines in that county. [....]
>
> http://www.mdot.state.mi.us/rowfiles/ [URL shortened]
Welllll....
Perusing the Southwest Region, I found some interesting things, the
last two regarding Berrien County:
- Generally, where a former alignment of a state-maintained highway is
located, they use the more dramatic "ABANDONED XX" rather than "FORMER
XX" (the roads themselves aren't abandoned, just the state maintenance
of them).
- It does appear that it will be M-63, not M-139, which takes over the
alignment of US 31 south of the current US 31/M-63 intersection south
of I-94 (Scottdale) when the US 31 freeway opens north of Berrien
Springs...and it looks like it might go all the way into Niles
(perhaps that's the reason for the (almost) unsigned Old 31 being
retained in the system between Berrien Springs and BR US 31 northwest
of Niles, otherwise there'd be two disconnected M-63s).
- US 31 apparently was planned to bypass Niles to the EAST at some
point - there is a "PROPOSED US-31 NEVER BUILT" label along 17th
Street heading north along the Niles eastern city limits from BR M-60
for a few blocks!
Now to go update my Michiana Roads page.... :) (Follow link in sig)
________________________________________________________________________
Marc Fannin|musx...@kent.edu or @hotmail.com| http://www.roadfan.com/
Chris Bessert
> "Brian Reynolds" <all...@voyager.net> wrote...
>
> > I have found, on the 'net, a resource I was not previously aware of.
> >
> > You may already be aware of the MDOT right - of - way books. MDOT
> > publishes one for each county for state trunklines in that county.
[....]
> >
> > http://www.mdot.state.mi.us/rowfiles/ [URL shortened]
>
> last two regarding Berrien County:
>
> alignment of US 31 south of the current US 31/M-63 intersection south
> of I-94 (Scottdale) when the US 31 freeway opens north of Berrien
> Springs...and it looks like it might go all the way into Niles
> (perhaps that's the reason for the (almost) unsigned Old 31 being
> retained in the system between Berrien Springs and BR US 31 northwest
> of Niles, otherwise there'd be two disconnected M-63s).
You know, now that's starting to make more and more sense! The Universal
Map ( http://www.universalmap.com )Regional County map of "Southwest
Michigan" ( http://image1.maplink.com/images/umn/umn_mr_sw_c.jpg )
has shown "Old US-31" as M-63 for several years now. I just assumed
it was a map-o on the part of David M Brown, the cartographer of that
map. (Which is odd, because he's usually so meticulous about the stuff
he includes on his maps!)
Looks like he asked what MDOT was going to do with Old US-31, and they
told him the truth.... only a decade too soon!
> - US 31 apparently was planned to bypass Niles to the EAST at some
> point - there is a "PROPOSED US-31 NEVER BUILT" label along 17th
> Street heading north along the Niles eastern city limits from BR M-60
> for a few blocks!
Indeed, it was. There were several of these "close-in" bypasses pro-
posed back in the 1940s and early-1950s. US-23 was to bypass Ann Arbor
roughly where Huron Pkwy is today; US-16 was to bypass both Howell and
Lansing to the north, rather close in; and there were several others.
A few of these "close-in" bypasses that DID get built were US-31 at
Holland, US-12 at Battle Creek (now Columbia Ave), M-17 at Ann Arbor
(now Stadium Blvd) and others.
I plan on including maps of these various proposals-that-were-never-
built on the new Michigan Highways website... someday...
Later,
Chris
--
Chris Bessert
Bess...@aol.com
Barry L. Camp
"Chris Bessert" <Bess...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:b7hsil$4v7$1...@msunews.cl.msu.edu...
I wonder why, then, that M-63 wasn't signed already? The stretch from
Berrien Springs could have always maintained a trunkline designation in this
case.
It's not a rhetorical question, but I can already think of two reasons:
1. There would have been one of those dreaded multiplexes from Berrien
Springs to Scottdale. (Too bad, because it would have provided a easy
transition from US-31 to M-63, and there would be more of the old US-33 that
would have been directly replaced.)
2. You ever been on the Berrien Springs to Niles stretch of OLD 31? The last
time I did, about 3 years ago, was like driving across the moon! I thought I
was going to have to by a complete new set of shocks and leaf springs after
a couple trips on the thing.
> > - US 31 apparently was planned to bypass Niles to the EAST at some
> > point - there is a "PROPOSED US-31 NEVER BUILT" label along 17th
> > Street heading north along the Niles eastern city limits from BR M-60
> > for a few blocks!
>
> Indeed, it was. There were several of these "close-in" bypasses pro-
> posed back in the 1940s and early-1950s. US-23 was to bypass Ann Arbor
> roughly where Huron Pkwy is today; US-16 was to bypass both Howell and
> Lansing to the north, rather close in; and there were several others.
> A few of these "close-in" bypasses that DID get built were US-31 at
> Holland, US-12 at Battle Creek (now Columbia Ave), M-17 at Ann Arbor
> (now Stadium Blvd) and others.
The benefit to this "eastern" US-31 alignment would have been only one St.
Joseph River crossing instead of three. But what of Indiana's connection to
the road? Perhaps this is why that alignment was ultimately scuttled.
Chris Bessert
>
> I wonder why, then, that M-63 wasn't signed already? The stretch from
> Berrien Springs could have always maintained a trunkline designation in
this
> case.
>
> It's not a rhetorical question, but I can already think of two reasons:
>
> 1. There would have been one of those dreaded multiplexes from Berrien
> Springs to Scottdale. (Too bad, because it would have provided a easy
> transition from US-31 to M-63, and there would be more of the old US-33
that
> would have been directly replaced.)
That's my guess. Too many route numbers in too confined of an area,
with M-63 and US-31 doing the dreaded and abhorred Concurrency Dance.
Plus, I have to wonder if MDOT is going to re-re-construct (or de-
construct?) the M-63 & US-31 (Future M-139) intersection at Scottdale
to allow for M-63 to be, once again, free-flowing. (Point of history:
Nile Ave when it was US-31/US-33 back in the day was the main through
route with M-139 branching off to the north to serve Benton Harbor.
Even after US-31 was detoured north along M-139 to the 'new' I-94,
US-33 still went straight into St Joe, so the intersection was left
as-is. It wasn't until the 1980s[? - Marc?] when the intersection
was reconstructed to bend M-63/Niles Ave into US-31 at a 90 degree
intersection instead of the shallow angle it had before.)
> 2. You ever been on the Berrien Springs to Niles stretch of OLD 31? The
last
> time I did, about 3 years ago, was like driving across the moon! I
thought I
> was going to have to by a complete new set of shocks and leaf springs
after
> a couple trips on the thing.
Hmmm... An MDOT ploy? To Average Joe Motorist: No route markers must
mean county road, right? Hmmm... Ignore the un-posted roads and the
average citizen won't be ticked at MDOT while the posted routes get
the attention... Hmmm...
> > > - US 31 apparently was planned to bypass Niles to the EAST at some
> > > point - there is a "PROPOSED US-31 NEVER BUILT" label along 17th
> > > Street heading north along the Niles eastern city limits from BR M-60
> > > for a few blocks!
> >
> > Indeed, it was. There were several of these "close-in" bypasses pro-
> > posed back in the 1940s and early-1950s. US-23 was to bypass Ann Arbor
> > roughly where Huron Pkwy is today; US-16 was to bypass both Howell and
> > Lansing to the north, rather close in; and there were several others.
> > A few of these "close-in" bypasses that DID get built were US-31 at
> > Holland, US-12 at Battle Creek (now Columbia Ave), M-17 at Ann Arbor
> > (now Stadium Blvd) and others.
>
> The benefit to this "eastern" US-31 alignment would have been only one
St.
> Joseph River crossing instead of three. But what of Indiana's connection
to
> the road? Perhaps this is why that alignment was ultimately scuttled.
Well, maybe, but my theory -- supported by some random facts here and
there and inspired by Ron Willbanks -- is that MDOT was pushing full
steam ahead with its post-war highway modernization programs in the
late-40s and early-50s, essentially continuing a program begun in the
1930s. Back in '39, all single-digit Michigan state route designations
were yanked and reserved for a future "Superhighway System" that the
State Highway Department was considering -- kind of like an Interstate
Highway program, but just for Michigan. As a part of this program, it
seems the MSHD began planning for bypasses of most of the larger and
medium-sized cities (like Niles).
The overall highway improvement program continued with several of the
projects being completed (see list below) and some begun but not
finished, like the big US-112/M-52 cloverleaf interchange on M-52 just
north of today's US-12 intersection near Clinton. Some of the late-40s
and early-50s highway improvements that would fit into this overall
program would be:
o US-27 - divided highway Lansing to Ithaca
o US-27 - divided highway Lansing to Charlotte
o M-78 - divided highway Lansing to Morrice
o US-127 - divided highway Lansing to Mason
o US-31 - divided highway Holland to Grand Haven
o M-21 - divided highway Grand Rapids to Holland
o US-31/US-33 - divided highway St Joseph northerly
o US-12 - Jackson bypass
Then, in the 1950s, as the first Michigan freeways (Davison, Willow
Run, Detroit Industrial, Edsel Ford, John C Lodge, etc.) were proving
their worth, the MSHD scrapped their plans and started over, centering
their new plans around the freeway model rather than the divided high-
way (uncontrolled access) and expressway (partially-controlled access)
model.
This moved the US-23 bypass of Ann Arbor from a close-in, expressway-
type highway along today's Huron Pkwy out to a more distant route
built as a full freeway, for example. When the Interstate Highway
program started up, these plans were simply rolled into the overall
Michigan freeway plan.
So, several of these lower-class (e.g. "not freeway"), generally close-
in bypasses were cancelled in favor of the newer, long-distance free-
ways or, in some cases, no plans at all.
But, that's just my take... :^)
SPUI
>
> The overall highway improvement program continued with several of the
> projects being completed (see list below) and some begun but not
> finished, like the big US-112/M-52 cloverleaf interchange on M-52 just
> north of today's US-12 intersection near Clinton.
Wow. Thanks for mentioning this. This was definitely worth seeing on
Terraserver.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=11&x=1867&y=11656&z=16&w=2
--
Dan Moraseski - 15th grade at MIT
http://web.mit.edu/spui/www/ - FL NJ MA route logs and exit lists
Chris Bessert
> Chris Bessert wrote:
> >
> > The overall highway improvement program continued with several of the
> > projects being completed (see list below) and some begun but not
> > finished, like the big US-112/M-52 cloverleaf interchange on M-52 just
> > north of today's US-12 intersection near Clinton.
>
> Wow. Thanks for mentioning this. This was definitely worth seeing on
> Terraserver.
>
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=11&x=1867&y=11656&z=16&w=
2
Man, I swear I posted this one here awhile back. (Damn. Maybe I forgot
to...)
Well, the State of Michigan has Color IR orthophotos on their website,
so I downloaded the appropriate quadrangle, cropped it and annotated it.
Here's the interchange:
http://www.michiganhighways.org/photos/US-112_M-52_interchange.jpg
Marc Fannin
> "Barry L. Camp" <blc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > I wonder why, then, that M-63 wasn't signed already? The stretch from
> > Berrien Springs could have always maintained a trunkline designation in
> > this case.
> >
> > It's not a rhetorical question, but I can already think of two reasons:
> >
> > 1. There would have been one of those dreaded multiplexes from Berrien
> > Springs to Scottdale. (Too bad, because it would have provided a easy
> > transition from US-31 to M-63, and there would be more of the old US-33
> > that would have been directly replaced.)
>
> That's my guess. Too many route numbers in too confined of an area,
> with M-63 and US-31 doing the dreaded and abhorred Concurrency Dance.
> Plus, I have to wonder if MDOT is going to re-re-construct (or de-
> construct?) the M-63 & US-31 (Future M-139) intersection at Scottdale
> to allow for M-63 to be, once again, free-flowing. (Point of history:
> Nile Ave when it was US-31/US-33 back in the day was the main through
> route with M-139 branching off to the north to serve Benton Harbor.
> Even after US-31 was detoured north along M-139 to the 'new' I-94,
> US-33 still went straight into St Joe, so the intersection was left
> as-is. It wasn't until the 1980s[? - Marc?] when the intersection
> was reconstructed to bend M-63/Niles Ave into US-31 at a 90 degree
> intersection instead of the shallow angle it had before.)
Mid-1985 to mid-1986. Thus US 33 was east-west through here for only a
handful of months as M-63 had appeared by September 1986.
Aerial photo for reference for others:
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2733&y=23273&z=16&w=2
(Change "t=1" to "t=2" in the URL for a topo with the old
configuration.)
> > [Chris Bessert wrote:]
> >
> > > [Marc Fannin wrote:]
> > >
> > > > - US 31 apparently was planned to bypass Niles to the EAST at some
> > > > point - there is a "PROPOSED US-31 NEVER BUILT" label along 17th
> > > > Street heading north along the Niles eastern city limits from BR M-60
> > > > for a few blocks!
> > >
> > > Indeed, it was. There were several of these "close-in" bypasses pro-
> > > posed back in the 1940s and early-1950s. US-23 was to bypass Ann Arbor
> > > roughly where Huron Pkwy is today; US-16 was to bypass both Howell and
> > > Lansing to the north, rather close in; and there were several others.
> > > A few of these "close-in" bypasses that DID get built were US-31 at
> > > Holland, US-12 at Battle Creek (now Columbia Ave), M-17 at Ann Arbor
> > > (now Stadium Blvd) and others.
> >
> > The benefit to this "eastern" US-31 alignment would have been only one
> > St. Joseph River crossing instead of three. But what of Indiana's connection
> > to the road? Perhaps this is why that alignment was ultimately scuttled.
Would it have been long enough to avoid two crossings? (The three
crossings on the original route for those who don't know are just
north of downtown South Bend, Indiana; on the east side of Berrien
Springs - a bridge built as a temporary structure c. 1947 which still
exists today AFAIK; and on the north side of downtown St. Joseph,
later just south of I-94 as today when the route shifted.) Do either
of you have a detailed enough description of the route to give an
outline of it?
BTW, while we're talking about alignments, there was a proposed BR US
31 spur along Niles-Buchanan Road from the then-unopened US 31 freeway
westward into Buchanan on a map from 1986 which, while not MDOT,
probably as I think in retrospect was produced by the Southwest
Michigan metropolitan planning organization the Southwestern Michigan
Commission ( http://www.swmicomm.org/ ) (I STILL can't find the map
after looking for years for it).
> Well, maybe, but my theory -- supported by some random facts here and
> there and inspired by Ron Willbanks
Is he related to former m.t.r poster Ron Wilbanks? ;)
> -- is that MDOT was pushing full
> steam ahead with its post-war highway modernization programs in the
> late-40s and early-50s, essentially continuing a program begun in the
> 1930s.
________________________________________________________________________
Marc Fannin|musx...@kent.edu or @hotmail.com| http://www.roadfan.com/
Ironic fact (relative to above): I've lived in Ohio 16 years today
Steve
It almost looks like 52 and 12 could have a tiny cloverleaf of its own
based on what's clear - 20 MPH ramps vs. maybe 50, but still.