M-123 is a state trunkline highway in the eastern

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

of the US state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It is one of only a few highways in Michigan that curve around and form a U-shape. In fact, M-123 has three intersections with only two state trunklines; it meets M-28 twice as a result of its U-shaped routing. M-123 also has a rare signed concurrency with a County-Designated Highway in Michigan; in Trout Lake, there is a concurrency with H-40. All of M-123 north of M-28 is a Scenic Heritage Route within the Michigan Heritage Route system. The highway was first designated before 1936 along a section of its current routing. Sections added since then encompass segments formerly belonging to

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 M-48. The last changes came to the highway in 1962 and 1963, when the northern end was extended and the southern end was truncated slightly.

Route description

M-123 serves a thinly-populated section of the state. Much of the highway passes through the eastern unit of the

Hiawatha National Forest Hiawatha National Forest is a National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan in the United States. Commercial logging is conducted in some areas. The United States Forest Service administers this National Forest; it is physical ...

. No part of the highway is listed on the National Highway System, a system of strategically important highways. The section of highway north of the two M-28 junctions is both a Michigan Scenic Heritage Route and part of the

Lake Superior Circle Tour The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively. It was designated by the Grea ...

Rogers Park to Paradise

The southern terminus of the highway is at exit 352 along

Interstate 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 S ...

(I-75) north of

St. Ignace St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered auto ...

Rogers Park Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early ...

. The roadway also connects to County-Designated Highway H-63 (Old US 2) at the interchange. From the interchange north, the highway runs northwest as Tahquamenon Trail to the community of Allenville near Brevort Lake in Brevort Township. Here it meets H-57. Just north of Allenville, the trunkline crosses through the adjacent community of Moran. Allenville was a stop on the

Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was a land grant railroad that was built and operated briefly (1881–1886) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. Incorporated in 1879, the -long railroad began operations in 1881. It w ...

(DM&M), and Moran was named after William B. Moran, one of the early settlement's founders. North of Moran the roadway runs parallel to the DM&M's abandoned rail right-of-way and passes by the

Fred Dye Nature Sanctuary Fred Dye Nature Sanctuary, commonly referred to as Fred Dye, is a nature sanctuary located in Mackinac County, Michigan. It is maintained and preserved by the non-profit organization Michigan Nature Association. Originally created as the ''Purpl ...

. Before crossing into Chippewa County, the highway passes through the community of

Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

, home of a rock quarry. North of the county line is the community of Trout Lake, where M-123 meets and merges with H-40 across railroad tracks and through town near Wegwaas, Frenchman and Carp lakes. Continuing to the north, the highway is renamed Deerfoot Road and serves the Three Lakes Campground, a unit of the

, before meeting M-28 at Eckerman. M-123 is designated as a Scenic Heritage Route north of M-28. Here it continues northwest to East–West Road and turns to run along the shores of

Whitefish Bay Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield o ...

and cross the Tahquamenon River near its mouth. Continuing along the bay as Whitefish Road, M-123 meets the community of

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

, the northernmost point along the highway. It is here that M-123 intersects Whitefish Point Road, which continues north to

Whitefish Point Whitefish Point is a cape of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, United States, marking the entry point of Whitefish Bay. It is north of the unincorporated community of Paradise, Michigan. Whitefish Point is known for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, it ...

, home of the

Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLS ...

. In either direction, M-123 runs southbound from Paradise, changing direction. Continuing east of Paradise, M-123 is the only paved road that serves the Tahquamenon Falls State Park and the Whitefish Point region.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

The Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

in Michigan. It is the second largest of Michigan's state parks. Bordering on

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

, most of the park is located within Chippewa County, with the western section of the park extending into Luce County. The park follows the

Tahquamenon River The Tahquamenon River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed January 3, 2012 blackwater river in the U.S. state of Michigan that flows in a generally eastward direction th ...

as it passes over

Tahquamenon Falls The Tahquamenon Falls ( or ) are a series of waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River, shortly before it empties into Lake Superior, in the northeastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They are the largest waterfalls in Michigan, and one of the larges ...

and drains into

, Lake Superior. The Tahquamenon Falls include a single drop, the ''Upper Falls'', plus the cascades and rapids collectively called the ''Lower Falls''. During the late-spring runoff, the river drains as much as of water per second, making the upper falls the second most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, after only

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

Paradise to Newberry

East of Paradise, M-123 runs along the Tahquamenon River inside the state park boundaries. Past the park, the highway is known as Falls Road in Luce County. The trunkline turns southwest at the county line. It runs south and west across Murphy Creek and the Auger River before intersecting with H-37 at Four Mile Corner. The highway crosses a branch of the Tahquamenon River one last time before becoming Newberry Avenue in the city of

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newb ...

. The highest

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 ...

, a measure of traffic volume, was recorded 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) for M-123 in 2007 along Newberry Avenue at 7,500 vehicles. South of downtown, M-123 meets M-28 a second time west of Twin Lake. This intersection is the "northern" terminus of the highway.

History

The construction of M-123 started in the 1930s near Eckerman, the location of the current eastern M-28/M-123 junction. By 1936, M-123 was designated running north of M-28 on of hard-surface pavement. At this time, US 2 is routed along Worth Road and uses roadway later used by M-123 from Moran to Rogers Park, and M-48 was routed north of Newberry to Four Mile Corner. The first extension of M-123 southward from Eckerman, through Trout Lake to Rogers Park north of St. Ignace, came in 1954. Part of this routing in Trout Lake uses M-48 (now a portion of H-40). An additional extension is shown north to the Tahquamenon River Bridge, lengthening the highway to the north on the April 15, 1954 official state map. The section north to the Tahquamenon River Bridge is remarked on the October 1, 1954 state map as a county road, however. In 1957, M-123 was permanently extended north to the bridge, and in 1962 the final extension north to Paradise and south to Newberry was completed. From Four Mile Corner south, M-123 replaced M-117 to a new terminus at M-28 south of Newberry. The southernmost section of roadway between the I-75/US 2 freeway and H-63 (Old US 2) was transferred to Mackinac County for maintenance with the opening of the freeway in 1963. On November 9, 2007, MDOT expanded the Tahquamenon Scenic Heritage Route designation previously applied to M-123. This expanded the designation to all of the highway north of M-28, recognizing it for its "outstanding natural beauty" and the scenic views of "rivers, forests, trails and Tahquamenon Falls State Park." Previously, the designation was limited to between Luce County Road 500 to Galloway Creek. The expansion was planned by the Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning & Development Commission along with local governments and businesses.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-123
at Michigan Highways M-123
at Michigan Highway Ends-->
Explore M-123: Tahquamenon Scenic Byway
(Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning and Development Commission)
Tahquamenon State Park
(Michigan Department of Natural Resources) {{DEFAULTSORT:M123 123 Lake Superior Circle Tour Transportation in Mackinac County, Michigan Transportation in Chippewa County, Michigan Transportation in Luce County, Michigan