M-54 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

that bypasses the city of

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

. It is named Dort Highway for much of its length, in honor of Flint carriage and automobile pioneer Josiah Dallas Dort. The portion from the north end of Dort Highway to Clio Road is part of the historic

Saginaw Trail Saginaw Trail is the collective name for a set of connected roads in Southeast and Central Michigan that runs from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint that was originally a tribal foot trail. To drive it today, drivers would follow: * from ...

, and was also part of the old

Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...

. The modern highway runs for through

Genesee Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada *Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States *Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee Co ...

and

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

counties from connections with Interstate 75 (I-75) near Grand Blanc on the south to Birch Run on the north. The highway serves mostly suburban and urban sections of the Flint area. Outside of the city, it also passes through agricultural areas in northern Genesee County and southeastern Saginaw County. It also shares a short east–west section with M-83 near Birch Run. The first state highway along the general route of M-54 was

M-10 M10, M-10 or M 10 may refer to: Science and technology * Messier 10, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus * M10, a Garmin Nüvifone smartphone * Samsung Galaxy M10, a smartphone * M10 (rocket engine), a rocket engine Transportation ...

, one of the original state trunklines signed in 1919. Later, it was redesignated as part of US Highway 10 (US 10) in the 1920s. After a series of realignments in the 1940s and 1960s, the roadway was given the M-54 designation in 1962. A segment of Saginaw Road through Flint was redesignated a business route in the 1940s that became Business M-54 (Bus. M-54) as well in 1962. That business loop was decommissioned in 1974. Previously, two other highways in Michigan bore the M-54 designation: a roadway that is now part of M-37 and one that is Bus. US 2 in

Ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...

Route description

M-54 starts at exit 109 along I-75 and follows Dort Highway northward through suburban Grand Blanc Township. The area near the southern end is mostly residential, but north of Reid Road, there is the

Grand Blanc Metal Center The Grand Blanc Metal Center, also known as the Fisher Body Tank Plant, was a General Motors automotive body metal fabricating facility in Grand Blanc, Michigan. It was built to produce tanks, which it did in large numbers during World War II and ...

plant for General Motors to the east of the highway. M-54 intersects Hill and Saginaw roads in the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Whigville as the trunkline passes out of the industrial area surrounding the plant. North of the Maple Road intersection, Dort Highway crosses into Burton, and the suburban residential neighborhoods give way to commercial properties along the roadway. There is a rail line leased by Lake State Railway that runs parallel to the highway about a half mile (0.8 km) to the east. North of Atherton Road, M-54 crosses into Flint and runs through the city's east side. The trunkline intersects

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

near the Amtrak station in the city, and a crossing with a line of the Canadian National Railway. Between Robert T. Longway Boulevard and Davison Road, Dort Highway passes another industrial area. North of Leith Street, the highway turns to the northwest, and the parallel railroad, still part of the Lake State line, follows suit. Dort Highway crosses the Flint River on the northeast side of the city near the interchange that connects the highway to I-475. This interchange uses the connection with Stewart Avenue on the western side of the river to provide all of the possible traffic movements between the freeway and the highway. M-54 turns due northerly past the interchange and crosses under the rail line as it heads out of Flint. The area north of the city line on Carpenter Road is dominated by industrial properties as far north as Coldwater Road. Running northward through a more rural area, M-54 passes to the east of Mount Morris. Turning northwesterly, the trunkline is dotted with commercial businesses as it continues to the

Clio In Greek mythology, Clio ( , ; el, Κλειώ), also spelled Kleio, is the muse of history, or in a few mythological accounts, the muse of lyre playing. Etymology Clio's name is etymologically derived from the Greek root κλέω/κλεί ...

area. The highway runs parallel to east of the railroad. It passes the Flint Memorial Park cemetery and the Auto City Speedway, a motorsports race track in an area that is otherwise agricultural in nature away from the main highway. The Dort Highway name ends at the intersection with Saginaw Road, and the highway takes on the latter name. East of Clio, M-54 intersects M-57 in the unincorporated community of Pine Run. Highways M-54 and M-83 near Frankenmuth

Past the town, M-54 turns due north on Clio Road before crossing into southern

Saginaw County Saginaw County, officially the County of Saginaw, is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 190,124. The county seat is Saginaw. The county was created by September 10, 1822, and was fully orga ...

. Over the county line, the name changes to Gera Road, and the trunkline runs through farm fields to an intersection with Birch Run Road. At that intersection, M-54 northbound turns westward and joins M-83 to run concurrently to Birch Run while M-83 continues north to

Frankenmuth Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,944 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by Frankenmuth Township. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as "the World's Largest Christ ...

on Gera Road. Birch Run Road carries opposing directions of the two highways, a phenomenon called a

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurr ...

. Running westward, the road is signed as both M-54 northbound or M-83 southbound. About west of the intersection between Gera and Birch Run roads, the two highways meet a common terminus at exit 136 on I-75/ US 23 in a commercial district that includes a large outlet mall bordering that freeway. M-54 is maintained by 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 ...

, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-54 were the 30,145 vehicles daily north of the I-69 interchange in Flint; the lowest counts were the 2,880 vehicles per day along the M-83 concurrency. M-54 between I-75 in Grand Blanc Township and M-57 near Clio has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

Previous designations

The first version of M-54 began at

M-16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

(later US 16) near Grand Rapids and ran northerly along the current M-37 corridor to M-20 (later US 10). This version of M-54 was replaced by an extension of M-37 by 1927. The second incarnation of M-54 was designated in

along the former

US 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, whi ...

routing through downtown in 1934. This was replaced by the current Bus. US 2 in August 1942.

Current designation

Originally, Saginaw Road in the Flint area was a part of the

, a Native American footpath in the area. In the early 20th century, the highway was a part of the

through the area. When the state signed its highway system in 1919, Saginaw Road was part of

; later it was used as a section of US 10 in 1926. In August 1926, the Flint City Council renamed the former Western Road after Josiah Dallas Dort, a partner in GM. In 1941, the highway was moved eastward to follow Dort Highway, and the route through the city was designated Bus. US 10. The current M-54 was designated in 1962 for a former routing of US 10 through the Flint area; US 10 was moved after the completion of the

I-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 St ...

freeway, and the M-54 designation was applied to the Saginaw Road-Dort Highway routing of US 10 from I-75 in Grand Blanc to M-83 in Birch Run. At the same time, Bus. US 10 became Bus. M-54 through Flint. An extension of Dort Highway in 1987 relocated the southern end of M-54 in Grand Blanc to end at exit 109 on I-75.

Major intersections

Business route

Business M-54 (Bus. M-54) was a business loop in the

area. It ran for about along Saginaw Road, which was also called Saginaw Street in the city of Flint. The highway connected to its parent, M-54, in Grand Blanc Township on the south end and ran through suburban Burton northwesterly into Flint. There it ran through downtown, passing under I-475 without an interchange. Bus. M-54 ran parallel to that freeway and met

at an interchange near downtown. There were intersections with both directions of

M-21 M21 or M-21 may refer to: Transportation * M21 (New York City bus), a New York City Bus route in Manhattan * M-21 highway (Michigan), a road connecting Flint and Grand Rapids * M21 (East London), a Metropolitan Route in East London, South Africa ...

; eastbound M-21 was routed on 5th Street while westbound traffic followed Court Street one block north. The highway crossed the Flint River and turned northward. Saginaw Street continued parallel to what is now I-475 before passing out of town. In Mount Morris Township north of Flint, the business loop terminated at the intersection with M-54 (Dort Highway). Originally, Saginaw Road in the Flint area was a part of the

, a Native American footpath in the area. When the state signed its highway system in 1919, Saginaw Road was part of

. Later it was used as a section of US 10 in 1926. In 1929, the highway was moved eastward to follow Dort Highway, and the route through the city was designated M-10 again. In 1941, this was renumbered to Bus. US 10. Later, in 1962, US 10 was moved again to follow the recently completed

freeway; the former route of US 10 was redesignated M-54 and its business loop was renumbered to match. This business route lasted until 1974; at the same time that I-475 was completed, Bus. M-54 was decommissioned and turned over to local control. ;Major intersections

References

External links

M-54
at Michigan Highways {{DEFAULTSORT:M054 054 Dixie Highway Transportation in Genesee County, Michigan Transportation in Saginaw County, Michigan U.S. Route 10