M-77 is a 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 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 ...

. It starts at US Highway 2 (US 2) near Blaney Park north of

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 ...

. The highway borders the eastern edge of the

Seney National Wildlife Refuge The Seney National Wildlife Refuge is a managed wetland in Schoolcraft County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It has an area of 95,212 acres (385 km2). It is bordered by M-28 and M-77. The nearest town of any size is Seney, Michigan. The ...

and passes through the community of Germfask. At Seney, it overlaps M-28 to cross the Fox River before returning northward. The northern half has been designated as a Scenic Spur 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 ...

. M-77 runs along the eastern end of the

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles (67 km) along the shore of Lake Superior and covers . The park has extensive views of the hilly sho ...

and terminates in Grand Marais north of H-58 near

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 ...

. Originally designated by 1919, the highway has not been changed much in its history. By the late 1950s, the highway was paved, completing the modern M-77 highway.

Route description

From US 2 near Blaney Park going north, M-77 runs past the former Blaney Park Resort and out of town by a small private airport next to Lake Ann Louise. The highway continues through rural woodlands past Chip Lake. The road crosses the

Manistique River The Manistique 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 that winds southward through the central Upper Penin ...

as it runs through Germfask. From just south of Germfask to just south of Seney, the road forms the eastern boundary of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is a managed

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

in Schoolcraft County in Michigan. Established in 1935, it has an area of bordered by M-28 and M-77 that is the remains of the Great Manistique Swamp, a perched sand wetland located in the central UP. The refuge contains the Strangmoor Bog

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best ...

within its boundaries. During the 1930s, work crews employed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) rebuilt, restored, and expanded the wetland drains, this time for active wetlands management purposes. These CCC ponds and drains are still used by the wetlands managers that staff the current National Wildlife Refuge. At Seney, M-77 crosses 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 ...

and turns east along M-28. Both run concurrently for less than half a mile (0.8 km) over a crossing of the Fox River before M-77 turns back northward. About north of Seney, the road turns sharply to the west, near Snyder Lake. The trunkline continues along several other lakes before turning northeasterly and then northward. The road marks the easternmost extent of the

around south of Grand Marais. Within Grand Marais, the highway follows Lake Avenue through downtown. M-77 intersects H-58 in town and the two designations run concurrently for two blocks. The trunkline continues one block farther north and ends at an intersection with Braziel Street by the Grand Marais harbor; the roadway continues northward as Lake Avenue at that point. M-77 Heading North

Grand Marais is situated on the shores of

some north of the mainline of the

. Since the Tour runs only along state trunklines in Michigan, a Scenic Spur of the tour was created to route traffic north from Seney to Grand Marais. The scenic spur also terminates in Grand Marais with M-77 north of the junction with H-58. M-77 is maintained 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) 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 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 ...

, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2009 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-77 were the 1,924 vehicles daily between Floodwood and Ten Curves roads in Schoolcraft county; the lowest counts were the 799 vehicles per day north of M-28 in Seney. No section of M-77 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

The route was first designated by July 1, 1919, with a route very close to its present course. A pair of sharp turns were straightened north of Seney at Lavender Corner around 1950. The last segments of gravel road were paved in 1958–59.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-77
at Michigan Highways M-77
at Michigan Highway Ends-->

{{DEFAULTSORT:M077 077 Transportation in Schoolcraft County, Michigan Transportation in Alger County, Michigan

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links