M-38 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the

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 ...

(UP) of the U.S. 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 ...

. Its west end starts in Ontonagon and runs east to Baraga, some apart. The highway crosses streams and rivers in forest lands and provides access to a casino. The east end is located by the Keweenaw Bay of

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 ...

in the

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community The L'Anse Indian Reservation is the land base of the federally recognized Keweenaw Bay Indian Community ( oj, Gakiiwe’onaning) of the historic Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians. (The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community was defined in 1934 by ...

. There have been two highways in the state to carry the designation. The first was located in the southeastern

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 ...

. The current version of M-38 was created from a section of M-35 in the 1960s. This section was orphaned from the rest of M-35 when the highway was cancelled through the

Huron Mountains The Huron Mountains are located in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, mostly in Marquette and Baraga counties, overlooking Lake Superior. Their highest peak is Mount Arvon which, at above sea level, is the highest point in the s ...

Route description

M-38 begins at a four-way intersection in Ontonagon. US Highway 45 (US 45) runs north–south through this intersection while M-64 runs west and M-38 runs east on Steel Street. This intersection is both the eastern terminus of M-64 and the western terminus of M-38. From here, M-38 forms a segment 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 ...

along Ontonagon–Greenland Road to a junction with M-26 near

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. The roadway runs through forest land and crosses several small streams while traveling southeasterly. Outside of Greenland, M-38 curves to the north around town after intersecting Plank Road. On the east side of town, M-26 and M-38 meet and join in a concurrency after Ontonagon–Greenland Road meets Plank Road a second time. The two highways run together for just over a mile to the unincorporated community of Lake Mine. There, M-38 turns south through the community while M-26 turns off to the northeast. Entering Nisula on M-38 westbound

The highway crosses a set of railroad tracks before turning east. At Post Office Road, M-38 meets a road named Old M-35 Road, a vestige of a highway straightening project during the time the highway was M-35. M-38 crosses the West Branch of the Firesteel River in hilly terrain through this area. The highway continues east and provides access to the Courtney Lake National Forest Campground west of the Houghton County line. East of Federal Forest Highway 16 (FFH-16) near Nisula, M-38 crosses the West Branch of the Otter River. It is along this section of roadway in Houghton County that the lowest

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 ...

(AADT) counts were measured 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 Interstat ...

(MDOT) in 2007. An average of 680 vehicles traveled on the roadway, according to MDOT surveys. Of those vehicles, only 40 trucks on average were included in the traffic counts. East of Nisula, the roadway runs parallel to Mill Creek. Mill Creek flows into the West Branch of the Sturgeon River near the Baraga County line. East of the county line is the crossing over the Sturgeon River south of Pelkie, home of the Baraga County Fairgrounds. The trunkline crosses more hilly terrain while veering to the northeast. Continuing to the east, M-38 had its highest traffic usage in 2007. The AADT for the Baraga County segment of the highway was measured at 3,000 vehicles a day. The roadway continues east through Baraga County and runs downhill approaching Baraga and the

, home of the first Native American casino in the United States. After passing through downtown Baraga on Michigan Avenue, M-38 ends at an intersection with US 41; on the western shore of Keweenaw Bay.

History

Previous designation

The first version of M-38 was designated in 1919 in the

. It was located on Junction Road from

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(later US 10/ US 23) southeast of

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, and then ran east to M-19 in the

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area in 1919. The highway was transferred to county jurisdiction in late 1961 when

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(I-75) was completed in the area.

Current designation

In January 1969, the

Michigan Department of State Highways 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 ...

redesignated the western section of M-35 as M-38. M-35 was originally planned to start in

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and run north to Big Bay, turn west through the

in northern Marquette County and run west from Baraga to Ontonagon. The Huron Mountains portion of M-35 was never built due to opposition from

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and the Huron Mountain Club. This left M-35 discontinuous. It was later routed along US 41 from Negaunee to Baraga, connecting the two sections until the western section was given the M-38 designation. The original routing of M-38 in the Upper Peninsula ran from M-26 at Greenland to Baraga. US 45 was rerouted in 1971 along M-26 from Rockland to Greenland and Ontonagon–Greenland Road between those two towns. M-26 was shortened to end at the new US 45 in Greenland. This change to US 45 was reversed in 1973. M-26 was re-extended to Rockland, and M-38 was extended along M-26 to Ontonagon–Greenland Road to meet US 45 in Ontonagon. On October 11, 2006, the western terminus of M-38 was relocated about south to end at a junction with US 45 and the newly realigned M-64.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-38
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M038 038 Lake Superior Circle Tour Transportation in Ontonagon County, Michigan Transportation in Houghton County, Michigan Transportation in Baraga County, Michigan