M-121 is a state trunkline highway in

West Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pe ...

. The highway follows Chicago Drive, a local roadway, from

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

to Grandville. Chicago Drive itself runs past the M-121 segment on either side from

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. The roadway passes through rural farmland on a route that runs parallel to

Interstate 196 Interstate 196 (I-196) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that runs for in the US state of Michigan. It is a state trunkline highway that links Benton Harbor, South Haven, Holland, and Grand Rapids. In Kent, Ottawa, and Allegan counties, I-1 ...

(I-196). M-121 forms the main street through the center of Hudsonville as it runs southwest–northeast. It forms a major street through the unincorporated community of Jenison before M-121 terminates at I-196 in Grandville. The M-121 designation has been used twice before in the state. The first was for a former routing of

US Highway 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whic ...

(US 2), and the second was for a connection between

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

/ US 23 and

Bishop International Airport Bishop International Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport located in Flint, Michigan, United States. It is named after banker and General Motors board member Arthur Giles Bishop (April 12, 1851 – January 22, 1944), who dona ...

in the

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

area. Since 2007, M-121 has been used for a portion of the former

M-21 M21 or M-21 may refer to: Transportation * M21 (New York City bus), a New York City Bus route in Manhattan * M-21 highway (Michigan), a road connecting Flint and Grand Rapids * M21 (East London), a Metropolitan Route in East London, South Africa ...

in Ottawa County, which was formerly designated as state-maintained "Old M-21". Future plans will reconfigure a section of the current highway from four lanes divided to four lanes undivided.

Route description

Chicago Drive, largely signed as M-121, is a combination state trunkline highway and municipal street running from 8th Street in

to the intersection of Cesar E Chavez (formerly known as Grandville) and Clyde Park avenues at the border of

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

and

, approximately in length. Running eastward, Chicago Drive picks up the Business Loop I-196 designation east of US 31. The highway has the typical mix of industry and commercial properties for the area. At 112th Avenue, it turns northeasterly to run through Zeeland. The roadway changes names when it turns due east again, where it is named Main Avenue and Main Place, comprising the only section of the route not designated Chicago Drive. M-121 in Jenison

Starting at the corner of Main Street and Chicago Drive, M-121 runs northeasterly out of Zeeland on Chicago Drive roughly parallel to I-196. A

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

railroad line also parallels the road to the northwest. The trunkline is a four-lane divided highway bordered by farms. Passing the Hudsonville Fair Grounds, Chicago Drive enters Hudsonville as the main street downtown. The highway continues to the northeast out of town through suburban residential areas to Jenison, where once again Chicago Drive is bordered by commercial properties. Through this area, the roadway is divided, utilizing

Michigan left A Michigan left or P-turn is an at-grade intersection design that replaces each left (farside) turn at an intersection between a (major) divided roadway and a secondary (minor) roadway with the combination of a right (nearside) turn followe ...

s. The M-121 designation ends at the interchange with I-196 just across the Kent County line in Grandville. The corridor from I-196 to its end in Grand Rapids is lined with businesses and few houses. The intersection of Chicago Drive and Wilson Avenue is in downtown Grandville. In Wyoming from north of M-11 (28th Street) to Burlingame Avenue, Chicago Drive run through a mostly industrial area with few commercial properties. Northeast of about Byron Center Avenue, Chicago Drive carries Business Spur I-196 (BS I-196). At the corner with Cesar E Chavez (formerly known as Grandville) and Clyde Park avenues, Chicago Drive and BS I-196 ends. M-121 is maintained by the

Michigan Department of Transportation The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate ...

(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 Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the lowest traffic levels along M-121 were the 10,103 vehicles daily at the western terminus in Zeeland; the highest counts were the 20,140 vehicles per day at the eastern terminus. None of M-121 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

There have been three roadways to carry the M-121 designation in Michigan.

Previous routings

M-121 was also used as the designation along two other roadways. In 1933, it was used for a former routing of

US 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...

in the Upper Peninsula. In 1935, this route was redesignated as a portion of a new M-5 and the M-121 designation was transferred to Bristol Road in Flint. This Flint-area trunkline provided access to

from both of the

and

US 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since ...

freeways until it was retired in 2003. At that time, Bristol Road was returned to local control.

Current routing

From 1919 to 1926, the current highway known as M-121 was designated

M-51 M51 or M-51 may refer to: * M-51 (Michigan highway), a state highway in Michigan * M51 highway (Russia) * M51 (Cape Town), a Metropolitan Route in Cape Town, South Africa * M51 Skysweeper, an anti-aircraft gun * M51 MACI mine * M51 SLBM, a French ...

. Then until 1974, the trunkline was part of M-21; that designation was removed when I-196 was completed between those Zeeland and Grandville, and much of the route became an unsigned state trunkline designated Old M-21, although it is locally referred to by its given name, Chicago Drive. The portion of Chicago Drive now signed as M-121 is long; it was given its designation in late 2007.

Future

Portions of the four-lane divided surface access highway along M-121 will become four-lane undivided as the westbound lanes are shifted south away from unstable soil and parallel train tracks.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-21
at Michigan Highways

at Michigan Highways

at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M121 121 Transportation in Ottawa County, Michigan Transportation in Kent County, Michigan