M-31 was a
state trunkline highway in the
Lower Peninsula
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...
in the US state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. It generally ran north from
Port Huron
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately.
Located along the St. Clair ...
along the
Lake Huron shoreline through
The Thumb
The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten. The Thumb area is generally considered to be in the Central Michigan region, east of the Tri-Cities and north of M ...
region before turning inland. The highway crossed The Thumb and then ran along the
Saginaw Bay shoreline before running inland again, terminating at
Saginaw
Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...
. It was one of the original state highways signposted in 1919, but it was renumbered as other highways in 1926,
decommissioning
Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to:
Infrastructure
* Decommissioned offshore
* Decommissioned highway
* Greenfield status of former industrial sites
* Nuclear decommi ...
the designation in the process. Parts of its route are now
M-24,
M-25 M25 or M-25 may be:
Aerospace
* M-25 Dromader Mikro, a variant of the Polish PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader agricultural aircraft
* Cors-Air M25Y Black Devil, an Italian aircraft engine
* Shvetsov M-25, an aircraft radial engine produced in the Soviet ...
,
M-81 and
M-142.
Route description
M-31 started at
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 Port Huron and ran northward along the
Lake Huron shoreline. Along the way, it intersected the western terminus of
M-46 before reaching
Harbor Beach. In town, the original
M-27 merged in from the north, and M-27/M-31
ran concurrently westward, turning inland. The two highways separated north of
Ruth
Ruth (or its variants) may refer to:
Places
France
* Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France
Switzerland
* Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny
United States
* Ruth, Alabama
* Ruth, Ar ...
as M-27 turned southward. M-31 continued across The Thumb through
Bad Axe, where it ran concurrently with
M-19 in town. The highway carried on westward through
Elkton and
Pigeon
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
to
Bay Port. Once there, the trunkline turned southwesterly to follow along part of the
Saginaw Bay. The road passed through
Sebewaing to
Unionville before turning back inland. Running southward to
Akron
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...
, the highway turned alternately westward and southward to
Fairgrove. M-31 next ran west along Bradleyville Road to a connection with
M-81; the two highways ran concurrently south through
Gilford before M-31 separated and turned back westward through
Reese
Reese may refer to:
Places Germany
* Reese, Germany, a hamlet in Lower Saxony on the River Aue United States
* Reese, Michigan, United States, a community east of Saginaw
* Reese, Pennsylvania, United States, a community in Blair County
* Reese, T ...
to Saginaw. The northern terminus in downtown Saginaw was at an intersection with what was then
M-10 M10, M-10 or M 10 may refer to:
Science and technology
* Messier 10, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus
* M10, a Garmin Nüvifone smartphone
* Samsung Galaxy M10, a smartphone
* M10 (rocket engine), a rocket engine
Transportation ...
.
History
When the state highway system was first signed in 1919,
M-31 was one of the original trunklines, originally running northward from Port Huron to Harbor Beach and then westward to Saginaw.
When the
U.S. Highway System
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...
was approved on November 11, 1926,
M-31 was
decommissioned in favor of alternate numbers. From Port Huron north to Harbor Beach,
M-29 was extended as a replacement. The segment west to Bay Port was renumbered
M-83 while from Bad Axe west it was also additionally part of M-29 to Unionville. The remainder was numbered
M-84 from Unionville to Reese, and M-81 from Reese to Saginaw.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
M-31at Michigan Highways
{{DEFAULTSORT:M031
031
Transportation in St. Clair County, Michigan
Transportation in Sanilac County, Michigan
Transportation in Huron County, Michigan
Transportation in Tuscola County, Michigan
Transportation in Bay County, Michigan