M-125 (Michigan highway)

M-125 marker

M-125

M-125 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length: 19.480 mi[1] (31.350 km)
Existed: 1974 – present
Tourist
routes:		 Monroe Historic Heritage Route
Major junctions
South end: Ohio state line near Toledo, Ohio
 
Conn. M‑125 near Erie
North end: US 24 near Monroe
Location
Counties: Monroe
Highway system
← M-124M-126 →

M-125 is a 19 1⁄2-mile-long (31.4 km) state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The highway is entirely within Monroe County with the southern terminus on the Ohio state border near Toledo and a northern terminus at US Highway 24 (US 24) in Frenchtown Township, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Monroe. M-125 runs through rural farmlands and connects a couple of smaller towns with Monroe. It has an unsigned connector highway that links the main highway with Interstate 75 (I-75).

The highway is a section of the former Dixie Highway and US 25 in the state. It was first added to the state highway system in 1926 and given its current number in 1973. Previously there were two other highways that carried the M-125 moniker. One in the 1930s ran through the Upper Peninsula near Thompson and a second from 1938 until the mid-1950s was located in Bay County. The current designation was created in 1973 when US 25 was decommissioned in Michigan. The section in downtown Monroe was named what is now a Pure Michigan Byway in 1995.

Route description

M-125 starts at the state line as the continuation of Detroit Avenue running northward from Toledo. Once across the state line, the roadway takes on the Dixie Highway name and passes a residential subdivision. The highway runs north-northeasterly roughly parallel with, and between, both US 24 and I-75 through farm land in rural Monroe County. The trunkline passes through the community of Erie before intersecting with Conn. M-125 (Summit Street) north of town. That unsigned connector is a state highway that links M-125 with I-75 to the south. Continuing north, M-125 intersects Luna Pier Road, which to the west is the unsigned Conn. US 24 that offers a path to US 24 (Telegraph Road).[2][3]

The route of M-125 changes direction slightly as it passes through the community of LaSalle; north of town it follows a more northeasterly course. The roadway passes through residential areas north of town as it approaches Monroe. South of the city, M-125 crosses the La Plaisance Creek and turns north-northwesterly through South Monroe. North of Lake Monroe, the road name changes from Dixie Highway to Monroe Street. The highway is the main street of the downtown area as it crosses the River Raisin upstream from the River Raisin National Battlefield Park. M-125 exits town near The Mall of Monroe. About five miles (8.0 km) north of Monroe, after running through farm land again, M-125 terminates at an intersection where Dixie Highway merges into US 24 (Telegraph Road).[2] [3]

Intersection of M-125 & US 24, facing south

M-125 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2011 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-125 were the 21,229 vehicles daily between Jones and Front streets in Monroe; the lowest counts were the 2,306 vehicles per day between Stearns and Erie roads near Erie.[4] No section of M-125 has been listed on the National Highway System,[5] a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.[6]

History

Previous designations

M-125 was first designated on a road in the Upper Peninsula from US 2 to north of Thompson in 1931;[7][8] this roadway was later merged into M-149 in 1936 after a rerouting of US 2 through the area.[9][10] Later in 1938, the M-125 designation was used for a highway under construction along Parish Road in Bay County running for three miles (4.8 km) west of US 23 (now M-13). [11][12] The highway intersected US 23 between Kawkawlin and Linwood and ran westward to 7 Mile Road. It was completed as a gravel road in 1939,[13][14] and paved by 1945.[15] The second M-125 was transferred back to local control in late 1956 or early 1957.[16][17]

Current designation

The Dixie Highway was conceived in 1915 to connect Chicago to Miami and commemorate a half-century since the end of the Civil War. On the suggestion of Governor Woodbridge Ferris, representatives from Michigan convinced the Dixie Highway Association to include Michigan in the proposed auto trail. Two divisions through the Lower Peninsula were included, the eastern one included a route between Detroit and Toledo via Monroe.[18] This section of the Dixie Highway in Monroe County was first added to the state highway system in 1926 when US 25 was created.[19] The highway was rerouted through downtown Monroe in the early 1930s; instead of turning westward in downtown to connect to Telegraph Road, the highway instead continued northward to the current Dixie Highway–Telegraph Road intersection.[20][21] When the US 25 designation was decommissioned in the state in 1973, the highway segment between the state line and the Monroe area was given the M-125 designation.[22][23] The routing has remained unchanged since.[2] In 1995, the section through downtown Monroe was named what is now a Pure Michigan Byway.[24]

Major intersections

The entire highway is in Monroe County.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Erie Township0.0000.000Detroit Avenue south – ToledoOhio state line
5.4178.718
Conn. M‑125 (Summit Street) to I-75
5.8769.457
Conn. US 24 (Luna Pier Road) to US 24
Frenchtown Township19.48031.350 US 24 – Detroit, Toledo
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Michigan Department of Transportation & Michigan Center for Shared Solutions and Technology Partnerships (2009). MDOT Physical Reference Finder Application (Map). Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Michigan Department of Transportation (2012). Pure Michigan: State Transportation Map (Map). c. 1:975,000. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. § N13. OCLC 42778335 and 794857350.
  3. 1 2 Google (March 12, 2012). "Overview Map of M-125" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ Bureau of Transportation Planning (2008). "Traffic Monitoring Information System". Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ Michigan Department of Transportation (April 23, 2006). National Highway System, Michigan (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
  6. ↑ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (September 26, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  7. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (July 1, 1931). Official Highway Service Map (Map). [c. 1:840,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. OCLC 12701053.
  8. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (October 1, 1931). Official Highway Service Map (Map). [c. 1:840,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. OCLC 12701053.
  9. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (June 1, 1936). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § D7. OCLC 12701143.
  10. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (December 15, 1936). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Winter ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § D7. OCLC 12701143 and 317396365.
  11. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (May 1, 1938). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Spring ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § J12. OCLC 12701143.
  12. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (December 1, 1938). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Winter ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § J12. OCLC 12701143.
  13. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (April 15, 1939). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Summer ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § J12. OCLC 12701143.
  14. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (December 1, 1939). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Winter ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § J12. OCLC 12701143.
  15. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department (October 1, 1945). Official Highway Map of Michigan (Map). [c. 1:918,720]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. §§ J12, N13. OCLC 554645076.
  16. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department (October 1, 1956). Official Highway Map (Map). [c. 1:918,720]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. §§ J12, N13. OCLC 12701120.
  17. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department (April 15, 1957). Official Highway Map (Map). [c. 1:918,720]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § J12. OCLC 12701120.
  18. ↑ Barnett, LeRoy (2004). A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan. Allegan Forest, MI: Priscilla Press. pp. 74–5. ISBN 1-886167-24-9.
  19. ↑ Bureau of Public Roads & American Association of State Highway Officials (November 11, 1926). United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials (Map). 1:7,000,000. Washington, DC: U.S. Geological Survey. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved November 7, 2013 – via University of North Texas Libraries.
  20. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & H.M. Gousha (July 1, 1930). Official Highway Service Map (Map). [c. 1:810,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. OCLC 12701195 and 79754957.
  21. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (October 1, 1932). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map). [c. 1:840,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. OCLC 12701053.
  22. ↑ Michigan Department of State Highways (1973). Official Highway Map (Map). c. 1:918,720. Lansing: Michigan Department of State Highways. § N13. OCLC 12701120 and 81679137.
  23. ↑ Michigan Department of State Highways and Transportation (1974). Official Transportation Map (Map). c. 1:918,720. Lansing: Michigan Department of State Highways and Transportation. § N13. OCLC 12701177 and 83138602.
  24. ↑ Staff (n.d.). "Monroe Street (M-125): Official Designations". America's Byways. Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on December 30, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2012.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

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