M-69 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 t ...
(UP) of the U.S. 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 connects with
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) on both ends in
Crystal Falls and near
Bark River. In between, the highway runs for in rural UP forest lands.
Before the creation of 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 hi ...
, the current M-69 was a portion of
M-12. The original M-69 was replaced by
US 102 and the M-69 designation was reused on a section of M-12 not replaced by US 2. Further changes to the current highway truncated it for three decades. The eastern section removed from M-69 was given the
County-Designated Highway designation G-30 until the change was reversed. In 2002, the historic Paint River Bridge in Crystal Falls was rehabilitated, repairing it and restoring it to the original appearance.
Route description
![Iron County Courthouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Iron_County_Courthouse.jpg)
M-69 starts at the intersection of 5th Street and Superior Avenue in Crystal Falls, where it meets US 2/
US 141. The
Iron County Courthouse is located at the head of Superior Avenue and overlooks a steep hill headed east through downtown. The City of Crystal Falls states that the courthouse offers "a view of the main street of the City and the scenic panorama of the valley at its feet".
On a clear day,
Iron Mountain can be seen from the courthouse tower.
It is from this starting point that M-69 descends Superior Avenue through downtown toward the
Paint River
Paint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed December 19, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Michigan.
It is a tributary of the Brule River and flows through Gogebic an ...
in
Iron County Iron County is the name of four counties in the United States:
*Iron County, Michigan
*Iron County, Missouri
*Iron County, Utah
*Iron County, Wisconsin
Iron County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, t ...
. The highway crosses the river on a historic bridge built in 1929 that features decorative lamp posts and railings.
The bridge was rehabilitated for five months in 2002. This rehabilitation involved replacing the bridge deck, repairing the bridge's substructure, and restoring the lighting and railings to original designs.
Because this bridge is listed on Michigan's list of historic bridges, the construction work had to preserve the original historic character of the bridge.
Final construction was completed at a cost of $1,130,545 (equivalent to $ in ). A complete bridge replacement would have cost 25% more without saving the historic bridge.
![CrystalFallsMichiganM69](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/CrystalFallsMichiganM69.jpg)
On the opposite bank of the river, Superior Avenue climbs a hill past the Evergreen Cemetery at the top. The section of roadway up to this point carries the highest levels of traffic as 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 Interstate ...
(MDOT) in their
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) surveys. Some 3,900 vehicles used this segment of trunkline daily in 2007.
Outside of town, the trunkline runs south of Runkle Lake through hilly, wooded terrain. The roadway crosses the southern section of the
Michigamme River
The Michigamme River ( ) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed December 19, 2011 tributary of the Menominee River on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. V ...
west of the
Dickinson County Dickinson County is the name of three counties in the United States:
* Dickinson County, Iowa
* Dickinson County, Kansas
* Dickinson County, Michigan
See also
* Dickenson County, Virginia
Dickenson County is a county located in the Commonw ...
line.
Running around east of the county line,
M-69 meets
M-95 in the unincorporated community of
Sagola. The post office in Sagola was established in 1889 to serve the timber-harvesting community.
M-69 turns south along M-95, and together the two highways run south for about
concurrently to the unincorporated community of
Randville.
This segment of the trunkline had the highest commercial traffic in the state's AADT surveys. Some 560 trucks used this roadway daily in 2007, according to MDOT.
This second unincorporated community was settled for iron mining at the adjacent Groveland Mine at the turn of the century.
M-69 and M-95 separate in Randville as the former turns east and the latter continues southward.
Between Randville and the former community of
Metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
, M-69 runs along the West Branch of the
Sturgeon River through more hilly terrain. The trunkline continues east to the twin communities of
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
and
Felch. The river and the road part ways until meeting again at
Foster City
Foster City is a city located in San Mateo County, California. The 2020 census put the population at 33,805, an increase of more than 10% over the 2010 census figure of 30,567. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley ...
. This is also the location of a unique junction of highways. M-69 meets
G-69, a County-Designated Highway that runs south to
Loretto in southern Dickinson County.
The intersection in unique because some states, such as
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, do not allow two highways to share a common number.
The highway continues to follow the river until crossing it at
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
before curving southeasterly and crossing into northern
Menominee County. The highway crosses the northern end of the county through relatively flat terrain. The lowest AADT counts were measured here in 2007 at 550 vehicles.
Near the unincorporated community of
Perronville, the roadway runs through hills near a crossing of the Ten Mile Creek west of the county line. Continuing to the southeast, M-69 meets the community of
Schaffer at the
Delta County line. This line marks the transition from the
Central Time Zone
The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
to the
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
.
In
Delta County, M-69 turns south along the
Bark River and crosses its north branch.
Just after running about into the county,
M-69 crosses a set of railroad tracks from 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 ...
's
Wisconsin Central. There it meets US 2/
US 41 east of the community of Bark River, home to the
Hannahville Indian Community
The Hannahville Indian Community is a federally recognized Potawatomi tribe residing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, approximately west of Escanaba on a reservation. The reservation, at , lies mostly in Harris Township in eastern Menominee Cou ...
. This marks the western end of the highway, halfway between Bark River and
Hyde, west of
Escanaba
Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...
.
History
![M-69 entering Crystal Falls](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/M-69_entering_Crystal_Falls.jpg)
In 1919, M-69 started at the state line south of Crystal Falls. It ran north through Crystal Falls, where it intersected
M-12, to end in
Covington at an intersection with
M-28.
This roadway was redesignated with the creation of 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 hi ...
in 1926.
US 2 replaced M-69 south and M-12 west of Crystal Falls.
US 102 replaced M-69 north of Crystal Falls, and the latter designation was reused on the section of M-12 east of town.
Where the roadway intersected
M-45 (now M-95) in Sagola, M-69 joined it to Randville and then replaced
M-90 east to Foster City by 1927.
By 1930, the highway was extended through
Menominee County into
Delta County to end at an intersection with US 2/
US 41 east of Bark River.
This extension gave M-69 its current routing.
In the late 1930s, the state had a general program to abandon some of state highways with a daily traffic level of less than 300 vehicles. On July 26, 1939, the state turned over of M-69 in Delta County, but the Delta County Road Commission immediately filed a protest to block the transfer. The Dickinson County Road Commission had already protested the abandonment of of M-69 in that county.
Maps published later that year do not indicate any change in jurisdiction to the highway.
In 1960, the section of M-69 east of Randville was decommissioned, and the concurrency with M-95 was removed. This truncated the highway to , approximately one-fifth of its previous length.
The transfer to county control was part of a program to reduce the total state highway mileage in the state.
[ After October 5, 1970,] this section was renamed G-30 with the beginning of the County-Designated Highway program in Michigan.
At various points, the road commissions in Dickinson, Menominee and Delta counties tried to give the roadway back to the state for maintenance. Menominee County made the request in 1974 and 1982, both times rejected because the road did not carry enough traffic to be a state highway. The road was a maintenance issue for the counties because of its relative isolation and high truck traffic carrying pulpwood to the paper mill in Escanaba
Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...
and potatoes from farms near Felch. The roadway was in a relative state of disrepair in 1982, and the counties wanted the state to fix it. Menominee County estimated that it would cost $500,000 (equivalent to $ in ) for their stretch, while Dickinson estimated that it would cost $1 million (equivalent to $ in ) for their .
This county road designation lasted until 1993. That year, the changes made in 1960 were reversed and M-69 was re-extended along M-95 and back to the Bark River area.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
M-69
at Michigan Highways
{{DEFAULTSORT:M069
069
Transportation in Iron County, Michigan
Transportation in Dickinson County, Michigan
Transportation in Menominee County, Michigan
Transportation in Delta County, Michigan