M-20 (Michigan highway)
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| M-20 |
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| Maintained by MDOT | |||||||||
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| Length: | 129.35 mi[1] (208.17 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1920[1] | ||||||||
| West end: |  US 31 near New Era |
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| Major junctions: |
 M-37 in White Cloud
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| East end: |    US 10/BUS US 10 in Midland |
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| Counties: | Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, Isabella, Midland | ||||||||
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M-20 is a state highway route in the U.S. state of Michigan that runs from Midland to New Era. Originally, M-20 began in Bay City, and in October 1958, a freeway was opened from Bay City to Midland, and the former M-20 (Midland Rd.), going through Auburn, was returned to local control. In 1960, the M-20 freeway became US 10, moving M-20's starting point to Midland. Previous to 1969, M-20 extended on the west end to Muskegon before it was rerouted from White Cloud to New Era.
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[edit] Route description
M-20 starts near Lake Michigan at the US 31 freeway in New Era. It runs east through the Manistee National Forest to White Cloud. There it turns south along M-37 and then east along a new routing to meet the US 131 freeway at Stanwood. There it turns north, running along the US 131 freeway to Big Rapids and joins BUS US 131. Together BUS US 131/M-20 runs along Perry Street to State Street. At Michigan Street, M-20 turns eastward to cross the Muskegon River in downtown Big Rapids, north of the campus of Ferris State University. M-20 zig-zags southeast of town bypassing the Canadian Lakes area and turns due east through Remus to Mt. Pleasant.
In Mt. Pleasant, M-20 runs near the campus of Central Michigan University and joins BUS US 127 along Mission Street to Pickard Road. There it turns east, passing under the US 127 freeway headed to Midland. From Mt. Pleasant to Midland, M-20 is designed as a four–lane highway with a continuous center turn lane. It passes by the Soaring Eagle Casino immediately east of US 127.
Once M-20 reaches Midland on Jerome Street, it crosses the Tittabawassee River north of the Tridge, a three-legged bridge over the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers forming the Saginaw River.
There it joins BUS US 10 on a pair of one-way streets, Indian Street (westbound) and Buttles Street (eastbound). The two streets curve into a freeway stub connecting with the US 10 freeway on the east side of town. At this interchange, both BUS US 10 and M-20 have a common eastern terminus.[2]
[edit] History
[edit] Previous designation
In 1920, M-20 was routed from Ludington to Bay City, Michigan by way of Reed City] and Clare. This routing would be redesignated as US 10 in 1926. M-20 would be moved to a new routing.[1]
[edit] Current designation
The M-20 designation was moved to a new alignment, roughly today's current routing from Midland through Mt. Pleasant, Big Rapids, White Cloud and Muskegon. The west end would be extended to end at Muskegon State Park in 1932. The last paving would be completed along M-20 in 1957 in Newaygo County.
The eastern end of M-20 was converted to freeway between Midland and Bay City in 1958. US 10 was rerouted along this freeway section and the I-75/US 23 freeway in 1960. M-20 was truncated back to Midland with the US 10 rerouting. The west end was rerouted through Muskegon to end at US 16 in 1961. The former routing connecting to Muskegon State Park became a new M-213 until it was removed from the trunkline system in 1970.[3] M-20 was completely rerouted on the west end in 1969 from White Cloud replacing M-82 to US 31 in New Era.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) swapped jurisdiction of M-20 and B-88 with Mecosta and Newaygo counties. The swap was finalized on 1998-10-01. M-20 was rerouted south from Big Rapids, along US 131 from exit 139 to exit 131 at Stanwood. There M-20 replaced B-88 westward to M-37. The markers were changed in February 1999 and completed by May 1999.[1]
[edit] Future
Since the late 1960's, there was a proposal to relocate M-20 from south of Mecosta to South of Big Rapids, cutting through a lake development called Canadian Lakes. It is not known if this proposal is still active.[1]
[edit] Major intersections
| County | Location | Mile[4] | Roads | Notes |
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| Oceana | New Era | 0.00 | US 31 |
Western terminus |
| Newaygo | Hesperia | 18.21 |  M-120 |
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| White Cloud | 31.68 | M-37 |
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| M-37 |
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| Mecosta | Stanwood |  US 131 |
Exit 131 on US 131 | |
| Big Rapids | US 131 BUS US 131 |
Exit 138 on US 131 M-20 follows BUS US 131 |
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| BUS US 131 Michigan Avenue |
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| Remus |  M-66 |
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| Isabella | Mt. Pleasant |  BUS US 127Mission Street |
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| BUS US 127 Pickard Street |
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| US 127 |
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| Midland | Midland | BUS US 10 |
M-20 is concurrent with BUS US 10 to terminus | |
| BUS US 10 US 10 |
Eastern terminus of BUS US 10 & M-20 |
| Legend | |||||
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| Crossing, no access | Concurrency terminus | Deleted | Unconstructed | Closed | |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Bessert, Christopher J. (2006-04-23). Michigan Highways: Highways 20 through 29. Michigan Highways. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Michigan Department of Transportation. Official 2007 Department of Transportation Map [map], 1in.:15mi./1cm.:9km.. Cartography by MDOT. (2007) Section J7-J11. Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
- ^ Bessert, Christopher J. (2006-10-22). Michigan Highways: Master List 1918-Present. Michigan Highways. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
- ^ Control Section/Physical Reference Atlas. Michigan Department of Transportation (2001). Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
