M-82 is a state trunkline in 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 ...

in 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 ...

that travels between Fremont and Howard City. The section between

Newaygo Newaygo ( ) is a rural city in Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,471 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. in ...

and Howard City travels through Fremont and along the southern edge of

Manistee National Forest The Manistee National Forest is a national forest located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a total area of . It was established in 1938, and combined with the Huron National Forest in 1945 for administrative purposes, creating the Huro ...

. The current version of M-82 is actually the second in the state; the first usage appeared 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 ...

by 1919. The Lower Peninsula routing has been in use since the 1920s. Various extensions and truncations have shifted the terminus as far west as New Era or Hesperia in the past. The current route was finalized in the late 1970s

Route description

M-82 begins at a junction with M-120 and B-86 west of Fremont. This junction is at a tripoint of county lines. M-120 forms the north–south

– Oceana and Newaygo–

Muskegon Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expan ...

county lines. B-86, which forms the east–west Oceana–Muskegon county line runs due west of the intersection. M-82 exits the intersection to the east. The highway runs along 48th Street through rural farms into the community of Fremont. The road, now called Main Street, passes through the downtown area and M-82 turns south along Stewart Avenue out of town. The highway rounds a curve and transitions to 72nd Street running eastward through more farm land. As the trunkline approaches Newaygo, the terrain becomes more wooded near the

Muskegon River Muskegon River is a river in the western portion of the lower peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river source is located at Houghton Lake in Roscommon County, flowing out of the North Bay into neighboring Missaukee County. The river pa ...

. M-82 follows Fremont Street east to a junction with M-37. The two highways merge and run concurrently over the river and into downtown on State Street. South of downtown, M-82 turns east again, independent of M-37, and runs along 82nd Street on the southern edge of the

. The east end of M-82 is at exit 118 on US 131/M-46 west of Howard City. 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), as a part of its maintenance responsibilities, tracks the volume of traffic using its roadways. These levels are expressed in terms of a metric called

average annual 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), which is a calculation of the traffic along a segment of road for any average day of the year. In 2009, the department's measurements indicated that a segment of M-82 west of Fremont had the peak volume for the highway at 16,532 vehicles daily. The traffic nadir was 4,018 vehicles east of Newaygo. In addition, MDOT has not had any section of the highway listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

Previous designation

The first usage of M-82 was in the Upper Peninsula by July 1, 1919. The trunkline started at

M-25 M25 or M-25 may be: Aerospace * M-25 Dromader Mikro, a variant of the Polish PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader agricultural aircraft * Cors-Air M25Y Black Devil, an Italian aircraft engine * Shvetsov M-25, an aircraft radial engine produced in the Soviet ...

and ran north of

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newber ...

to the vicinity of Eight Mile Corner. It was later replaced by M-48 in 1926.

Current designation

The current M-82 dates back to 1926. It ran from US 31 in

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile W ...

to the northern junction of US 131 and M-46 in Howard City. The highway was routed through

Ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

, Hesperia and Fremont, replacing M-41. In late 1936, M-46 was extended along the section between Newaygo and Howard City, forming a M-46/M-82 concurrency to fill a gap in the M-46 routing. This concurrent section became just M-46 in 1938, shortening M-82 back to the northern M-37 junction in Newaygo. The highway was moved to a new alignment west of Ferry in late 1947 or early 1948. Instead of heading northwesterly to Hart, it was continued west to end in Shelby. Two realignments in 1963 and 1964 rerouted the western end of the highway again. This time it was realigned to run from Hesperia to New Era, bypassing Ferry. A larger change around 1969 reconfigured the highway designations in Oceana County. M-20 replaced M-82 west of Hesperia, to end at New Era instead of

. The new M-120 designation replaced M-20 south of Hesperia. M-82 now ran from Hesperia to Newaygo only. The length of the highway was increased in 1973 when the eastern end was moved back to Howard City. M-46 was rerouted to follow the US 131 freeway south of Howard City to Cedar Springs, and replaced M-57 between Cedar Springs and Casnovia. This freed up the Newaygo to Howard City highway for a return to the M-82 designation. The last change came in 1978 when the concurrency with M-120 was eliminated in favor of M-120. The M-82 designation was truncated at this time to the junction west of Fremont, resulting in the current highway routing.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-82
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M082 082 Transportation in Newaygo County, Michigan Transportation in Montcalm County, Michigan