M-91 is a largely north–south state trunkline highway 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 ...

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 runs from Belding to south of Lakeview. Its length exists entirely within

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

and Montcalm counties. It is all undivided surface route. Aside from the two Michigan state highways that are its termini, it has only one other intersection with any Michigan state highway, and that is with M-57 in Greenville. M-91 was formed when M-66 was rerouted in the 1940s. At the time, the highway continued south to Lowell, but subsequent transfers or roadway sections have truncated the route to its present form. For a time period in the 1980s, M-91 was even a discontinuous highway when a section in the middle was transferred to county control before the southernmost section was transferred.

Route description

M-91 starts at an intersection with M-44 west of Belding in Otisco Township. The road runs north along Storey Road and past the Candlestone Golf Course and farmlands. At Bricker Road, M-91 crosses out of

Ionia County Ionia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 66,804. The county seat is Ionia. The Ionia County Courthouse was designed by Claire Allen, a prominent southern Michigan architect. Ion ...

into Montcalm County. The trunkline runs along Greenville Road and passes the Greenville Municipal Airport. As it continues north, the highway curves to the northeast running between the Flat River and Baldwin, Como and Manoka lakes. As it enters the south side of Greenville, M-91 runs along on Lafayette Street. In the center of Greenville, M-91 meets M-57 on Washington Street. North of downtown, M-91 crosses a bend in the Flat River and continues to parallel the river on the east out of town. In rural Montcalm County, M-91 is once again named Greenville Road and it curves to the west of Turk Lake and continues due north to the community of Langston. North of Langston are Tacoma, West and Spring lakes. Further north, M-91 curves to the northwest around Farnsworth Lake, resuming its due-north course a mile (1.6 km) to the west . Running through farmlands again, M-91 terminates at an intersection with M-46 in Lakeview, just south of Tamarack Lake.

History

Previous designations

The first routing of M-91 in Michigan was located between

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

and Cedar River in the Upper Peninsula. This routing was designated by July 1, 1919. The designation remained until sometime before December 1927 when it was replaced by M-35. In 1927, all of the current M-91 was originally part of M-66. A second usage of M-91 was designated from

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 ...

towards

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 ...

along the

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 ...

shore by 1930. It became part of

US 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since ...

by the end of 1940.

Current designation

M-91 was designated for the third time by June 1942. The number was assigned between US 16 (Cascade Road/Grand River Avenue) south of Lowell running northeast along Alden Nash Avenue into Lowell and Lincoln Lake Road north of town. The highway followed Lincoln Lake Road to M-44 east of Belding and turned to run concurrently along M-44 to the Belding area. From there it ran north to Greenville and on to Lakeview along the present route. The last section of gravel roadway was paved in

in 1954. The highway designation was extended south to the then-new US 16 freeway (now

Interstate 96 Interstate 96 (I-96) is an east–west Interstate Highway that runs for approximately entirely within the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The western terminus is at an interchange with US Highway 31 (US 31) and Bus ...

) around 1958. It was later truncated back to M-21 in Lowell in 1968. By 1980, the section of M-91 in Ionia County south of M-44 to the Kent County line was turned back to local control. The highway section in Kent County remained marked as M-91, resulting in a discontinuous highway. The southern section between Lowell and the county line was turned back by 1985, resulting in the modern routing of M-91.

Major intersections

References

External links

M-91
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M091 091 Transportation in Ionia County, Michigan Transportation in Montcalm County, Michigan