M-54 Business (Flint, Michigan)
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M-54 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that bypasses the city of Flint. It is named Dort Highway for much of its length, in honor of Flint carriage and automobile pioneer
Josiah Dallas Dort Josiah Dallas Dort (February 27, 1861 – May 17, 1925) was an American engineer and automobile pioneer of the United States automobile industry. He was born in Inkster, Michigan on February 27, 1861. His father was a well-to-do country squire an ...
. The portion from the north end of Dort Highway to Clio Road is part of the historic
Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...
, and was also part of the old Dixie Highway. The modern highway runs for through
Genesee Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada * Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States * Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee C ...
and Saginaw counties from connections with Interstate 75 (I-75) near
Grand Blanc Grand Blanc is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Flint. The population was 7,784 as of the 2020 US Census. History The unincorporated village of Grand Blanc, or Grumlaw, was a former Indian campground firs ...
on the south to Birch Run on the north. The highway serves mostly suburban and urban sections of the Flint area. Outside of the city, it also passes through agricultural areas in northern Genesee County and southeastern Saginaw County. It also shares a short east–west section with M-83 near Birch Run. The first state highway along the general route of M-54 was
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 ...
, one of the original state trunklines signed in 1919. Later, it was redesignated as part of US Highway 10 (US 10) in the 1920s. After a series of realignments in the 1940s and 1960s, the roadway was given the M-54 designation in 1962. A segment of Saginaw Road through Flint was redesignated a
business route A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...
in the 1940s that became Business M-54 (Bus. M-54) as well in 1962. That business loop was decommissioned in 1974. Previously, two other highways in Michigan bore the M-54 designation: a roadway that is now part of M-37 and one that is Bus. US 2 in Ironwood.


Route description

M-54 starts at exit 109 along I-75 and follows Dort Highway northward through suburban
Grand Blanc Township Charter Township of Grand Blanc is a charter township of Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 39,846 at the 2020 census, a slight increase from 37,508 at the 2010 census. The city of Grand Blanc was formed out of ...
. The area near the southern end is mostly residential, but north of Reid Road, there is the
Grand Blanc Metal Center The Grand Blanc Metal Center, also known as the Fisher Body Tank Plant, was a General Motors automotive body metal fabricating facility in Grand Blanc, Michigan. It was built to produce tanks, which it did in large numbers during World War II and t ...
plant for
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
to the east of the highway. M-54 intersects Hill and Saginaw roads in the unincorporated community of Whigville as the trunkline passes out of the industrial area surrounding the plant. North of the Maple Road intersection, Dort Highway crosses into
Burton Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to: Companies * Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer ** Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937 **The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...
, and the suburban residential neighborhoods give way to commercial properties along the roadway. There is a rail line leased by
Lake State Railway Lake State Railway is a railroad operating in the Saginaw Valley and northeastern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The railroad moves large quantities of aggregate and limestone, as well as coal, grain, and chemical products. Some of ...
that runs parallel to the highway about a half mile (0.8 km) to the east. North of Atherton Road, M-54 crosses into Flint and runs through the city's east side. The trunkline intersects I-69 near the
Amtrak station This is a list of train stations and Thruway Motorcoach stops used by Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation in the United States). This list is in alphabetical order by station or stop name, which mostly corresponds to the city ...
in the city, and a crossing with a line of the
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...
. Between Robert T. Longway Boulevard and Davison Road, Dort Highway passes another industrial area. North of Leith Street, the highway turns to the northwest, and the parallel railroad, still part of the Lake State line, follows suit. Dort Highway crosses the
Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...
on the northeast side of the city near the interchange that connects the highway to I-475. This interchange uses the connection with Stewart Avenue on the western side of the river to provide all of the possible traffic movements between the freeway and the highway. M-54 turns due northerly past the interchange and crosses under the rail line as it heads out of Flint. The area north of the city line on Carpenter Road is dominated by industrial properties as far north as Coldwater Road. Running northward through a more rural area, M-54 passes to the east of Mount Morris. Turning northwesterly, the trunkline is dotted with commercial businesses as it continues to the Clio area. The highway runs parallel to east of the railroad. It passes the Flint Memorial Park cemetery and the Auto City Speedway, a motorsports race track in an area that is otherwise agricultural in nature away from the main highway. The Dort Highway name ends at the intersection with Saginaw Road, and the highway takes on the latter name. East of Clio, M-54 intersects M-57 in the unincorporated community of Pine Run. Past the town, M-54 turns due north on Clio Road before crossing into southern
Saginaw County Saginaw County, officially the County of Saginaw, is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 190,124. The county seat is Saginaw. The county was created by September 10, 1822, and was fully orga ...
. Over the county line, the name changes to Gera Road, and the trunkline runs through farm fields to an intersection with Birch Run Road. At that intersection, M-54 northbound turns westward and joins M-83 to run concurrently to Birch Run while M-83 continues north to
Frankenmuth Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,944 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by Frankenmuth Township. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as "the World's Largest Christ ...
on Gera Road. Birch Run Road carries opposing directions of the two highways, a phenomenon called a wrong-way concurrency. Running westward, the road is signed as both M-54 northbound or M-83 southbound. About west of the intersection between Gera and Birch Run roads, the two highways meet a common terminus at exit 136 on I-75/ US 23 in a commercial district that includes a large outlet mall bordering that freeway. M-54 is maintained by 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 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-54 were the 30,145 vehicles daily north of the I-69 interchange in Flint; the lowest counts were the 2,880 vehicles per day along the M-83 concurrency. M-54 between I-75 in Grand Blanc Township and M-57 near Clio has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.


History


Previous designations

The first version of M-54 began at M-16 (later US 16) near
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 ran northerly along the current M-37 corridor to M-20 (later US 10). This version of M-54 was replaced by an extension of M-37 by 1927. The second incarnation of M-54 was designated in Ironwood along the former US 2 routing through downtown in 1934. This was replaced by the current Bus. US 2 in August 1942.


Current designation

Originally, Saginaw Road in the Flint area was a part of the
Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...
, a Native American footpath in the area. In the early 20th century, the highway was a part of the Dixie Highway through the area. When the state signed its highway system in 1919, Saginaw Road was part of
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 ...
; later it was used as a section of US 10 in 1926. In August 1926, the Flint City Council renamed the former Western Road after
Josiah Dallas Dort Josiah Dallas Dort (February 27, 1861 – May 17, 1925) was an American engineer and automobile pioneer of the United States automobile industry. He was born in Inkster, Michigan on February 27, 1861. His father was a well-to-do country squire an ...
, a partner in GM. In 1941, the highway was moved eastward to follow Dort Highway, and the route through the city was designated Bus. US 10. The current M-54 was designated in 1962 for a former routing of US 10 through the Flint area; US 10 was moved after the completion of the I-75 freeway, and the M-54 designation was applied to the Saginaw Road-Dort Highway routing of US 10 from I-75 in
Grand Blanc Grand Blanc is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Flint. The population was 7,784 as of the 2020 US Census. History The unincorporated village of Grand Blanc, or Grumlaw, was a former Indian campground firs ...
to M-83 in Birch Run. At the same time, Bus. US 10 became Bus. M-54 through Flint. An extension of Dort Highway in 1987 relocated the southern end of M-54 in Grand Blanc to end at exit 109 on I-75.


Major intersections


Business route

Business M-54 (Bus. M-54) was a
business loop A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...
in the Flint area. It ran for about along Saginaw Road, which was also called Saginaw Street in the city of Flint. The highway connected to its parent, M-54, in
Grand Blanc Township Charter Township of Grand Blanc is a charter township of Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 39,846 at the 2020 census, a slight increase from 37,508 at the 2010 census. The city of Grand Blanc was formed out of ...
on the south end and ran through suburban
Burton Burton, Burtons, or Burton's may refer to: Companies * Burton (retailer), a clothing retailer ** Burton's, Abergavenny, a shop built for the company in 1937 **The Montague Burton Building, Dublin a shop built for the company between 1929 and ...
northwesterly into Flint. There it ran through downtown, passing under I-475 without an interchange. Bus. M-54 ran parallel to that freeway and met I-69 at an interchange near downtown. There were intersections with both directions of
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 ...
; eastbound M-21 was routed on 5th Street while westbound traffic followed Court Street one block north. The highway crossed the
Flint River The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...
and turned northward. Saginaw Street continued parallel to what is now I-475 before passing out of town. In Mount Morris Township north of Flint, the business loop terminated at the intersection with M-54 (Dort Highway). Originally, Saginaw Road in the Flint area was a part of the
Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...
, a Native American footpath in the area. When the state signed its highway system in 1919, Saginaw Road was part of
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 ...
. Later it was used as a section of US 10 in 1926. In 1929, the highway was moved eastward to follow Dort Highway, and the route through the city was designated M-10 again. In 1941, this was renumbered to Bus. US 10. Later, in 1962, US 10 was moved again to follow the recently completed I-75 freeway; the former route of US 10 was redesignated M-54 and its business loop was renumbered to match. This business route lasted until 1974; at the same time that I-475 was completed, Bus. M-54 was decommissioned and turned over to local control. ;Major intersections


See also

*


References


External links


M-54
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M054
054 The Type 054 (NATO Codename Jiangkai I) is a class of People's Republic of China, Chinese multi-role frigate, frigates that were commissioned in the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force in 2005. They superseded the Type 053H3 frigates. Only ...
Dixie Highway Transportation in Genesee County, Michigan Transportation in Saginaw County, Michigan U.S. Route 10