M-68 is an east–west state trunkline highway located in the northern part of 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 ...

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 ...

. The western terminus of the highway begins east of the

Little Traverse Bay Little Traverse Bay is a small bay, 170 feet (55 m) deep, off Lake Michigan in the northern area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The cities of Harbor Springs and Petoskey are located on this bay. Harbor Springs originated as ''L'arbre de C ...

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and ends a few blocks from

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

Rogers City Rogers City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,827 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Presque Isle County. The city is adjacent to Rogers Township, but is politically independent. Rogers City is located on L ...

. M-68 skirts just south of Indian River and

Burt Lake Burt Lake is a 17,120 acre (69 km2) lake in Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The western shore of the lake is on the boundary with Emmet County. The lake is named after William Austin Burt, who, together with John Mullett, ma ...

. The first incarnation of M-68 existed 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 t ...

before being absorbed into M-35. The current designation was created in 1936. A segment of highway once used by US Highway 23 (US 23) was incorporated into the trunkline as a discontinuous section in the early 1940s until it was later connected in 1946.

Route description

M-68 starts in the community of Alanson east of Little Traverse Bay in Emmet County. US 31 runs along Burr Avenue parallel to the former

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854. Beginnings After grappl ...

line and depot in town. M-68 starts at an intersection between Chicago Street and Burr Avenue. The trunkline runs southeasterly from this intersection and on a bridge over the Crooked River. After leaving town, the highway curves to run due east through hilly terrain. After crossing the

Cheboygan County Cheboygan County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, the population was 25,579. The county seat is Cheboygan, Michigan, Cheboygan. The county boundaries were s ...

line, the roadway meets the community of

. It curves southeasterly along the shoreline of the

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

of the same name. The roadway rounds the south end of Burt Lake and approaches the community of Indian River. South of

Burt Lake State Park Burt Lake State Park is a public recreation area covering on the south shore of Burt Lake at Indian River in Cheboygan County, Michigan. The state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within ...

, the trunkline meets Straits Highway, the former routing of US 27 through Indian River. M-68 turns north along Straits Highway through downtown and then turns east toward

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). It is along this section of M-68 that the roadway crosses the Sturgeon River. 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) measured 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 ...

(AADT) figures for M-68 along the section of highway west of Indian River. AADT is a measure of the average number of vehicles using a segment of roadway on any given day of the year, and for 2007, MDOT measured it at 9,200 vehicles daily. After crossing I-75 at exit 310, M-68 heads southeasterly, parallel to the Crumley Creek, out of town. The roadway continues through hilly terrain and crosses the Pigeon River on the route to Afton. M-68 merges with M-33 east of Afton. M-33 curves from the north toward the east. There is a small connector in this intersection to allow southbound M-33 traffic to turn west along M-68 instead of merging into the combined eastbound M-33/M-68 traffic. The two highways continue together in a concurrency through the wooded, hilly terrain to the unincorporated community of

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, where they cross the Black River. It is east of this river crossing where the highway meets the southern end of F-05, a County-Designated Highway that runs along Black River Road. M-33/M-68 cross into

Presque Isle County Presque Isle County ( ') is a county in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 12,982. The county seat is Rogers City. The county was authorized by state legislative action on April 1, 184 ...

just west of Onaway. M-68 turns northwest along Washington Avenue, and M-33 turns south along Michigan Street. M-68 turns east on State Street through downtown and runs out of town to cross the Rainy River in rural Presque Isle County. East of the Ocqueoc River crossing, M-68 turns north along Millersburg Road. The highway later curves back to the east near Ocqueoc Falls Highway, home of a bridge that carried the highway before 1954. M-68 continues to follow Hutchinson Road eastward over the Little Ocqueoc River and on to the Rogers City area. This section of highway had the lowest AADT levels in 2007 at 1,400 vehicles daily. The highway turns northeasterly after intersecting Airport Highway on the outskirts of town. Renamed as Erie Street, M-68 meets US 23 southwest of downtown. The highway continues along Erie Street until meeting Bus. US 23, which runs along Third Street. This intersection marks the end of M-68, four blocks from

, from its start in Alanson.

History

Previous incarnation

The first highway to bear the M-68 designation was located in the western

. It ran north from Rockland to Ontonagon and then westerly toward Silver City in 1919. This roadway was redesignated by 1927 as a segment of M-35.

Current incarnation

M-68 was designated along a segment of its current roadway in 1936. The roadway connecting Alanson and Indian River was given the M-68 designation, while US 23 was routed between Rogers City and Afton. When US 23 was moved to its current lakeshore routing between Rogers City and Cheboygan in 1940, M-33 was extended westerly from Onaway to Afton and north to Cheboygan over the former US 23 roadway. The Afton–Onaway segment of M-33 and the remainder of the former US 23 east of Onaway was designated as a second segment of M-68 as well. The gap between these two segments was eliminated by July 1946. Two realignments were made to the highways routing. The first bypassed a bridge over the Ocqueoc River in Presque Isle County in 1954. This bridge was built in 1920 at a cost of $8,849 (equivalent to $ in ) in the filled spandrel arch style. A second change in the routing between 1961 and 1962 moved the trunkline to a more direct connection between Indian River and Afton. This change also bypassed the last remaining gravel section of the highway.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-68
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M068 068 Transportation in Emmet County, Michigan Transportation in Cheboygan County, Michigan Transportation in Presque Isle County, Michigan