M-50 (Michigan highway)

M-50
M-50 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length	138.072 mi[1] (222.205 km)
Existed	c. July 1, 1919[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	I-96 near Alto
Major intersections	Woodbury I-69 / M-79 in Charlotte I-94 / US 127 near Jackson M-106 in Jackson US 12 near Brooklyn M-52 near Tecumseh US 23 in Dundee
East end	US 24 in Monroe
Location
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Counties	Kent, Ionia, Barry, Eaton, Jackson, Lenawee, Monroe
Highway system
Michigan State Trunkline Highway System Interstate US State Byways
← M-49 → M-51

M-50 is a

M-50 begins at an interchange with I-96 at exit 52 south of Lowell in southeastern Kent County. The highway proceeds south along with Alden Nash Avenue and turns east on 92nd Street through farms and fields in the rural southeastern corner of the county. As the trunkline runs to the east, it crosses into Ionia County. M-50 follows Thompson Road, Nash Highway and Tupper Lake Road into Lake Odessa. In Lake Odessa, the road bends around the north side of Jordan Lake, curving to the south into the extreme northeastern Barry County. The highway turns back to the east as it heads towards a junction with M-66 and M-43 at the Barry–Eaton county line.^[3][4]

After meeting M-43, the two trunklines

After heading east past the junction with I-69, the highway turns southeast as it heads through rural fields toward Eaton Rapids. Once it reaches the city, M-50 converges with M-99, and the two intersect M-188 on the south side of the Grand River. The two highways run south out of the city. Immediately prior to entering Jackson County, the two trunklines diverge with M-99 heading off to the southwest and M-50 to the southeast.^[3][4]

M-50 continues its journey through Jackson County, winding its way to the southeast through rural fields and small forests. The landscape transitions to residential neighborhoods as the road approaches the

M-50 begins the final leg of its journey, as it crosses into Monroe county, passing through land that is mostly fields. Prior to reaching its interchange with US 23, the highway passes to the south of Cabela's,^[3][4] a 225,000-square-foot (20,900 m²) outdoor sports retailer in Dundee.^[6] After leaving town, the trunkline continues to the southeast, running to the south of the River Raisin, through rural areas as South Custer Road before entering the outskirts of Monroe where it finally ends its journey at a junction with US 24 (Telegraph Road) a few miles inland from Lake Erie.^[3][4]

M-50 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (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, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2011 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-50 were the 25,770 vehicles daily south of the Springport Road interchange in the Jackson area; the lowest counts were the 2,055 vehicles per day south of the M-99 concurrency.^[7] The only sections of M-50 that have been listed on the National Highway System (NHS) are the two US 127 concurrencies in the Jackson area and the connection between them through downtown.^[8] The NHS is a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.^[9]

History

When the state highway system was first signed in 1919,

In 1953, the route was realigned onto the south and west beltline to bypass Grand Rapids; the old routing through downtown became Business M-50 (Bus. M-50).^[15][16] In the late 1950s, when the US 127 freeway bypass east of Jackson opened up, the old routing through town became Bus. US 127/M-50. At the same time, the concurrency with US 23 between Dundee and the Ida area was dropped after the new US 23 freeway opened; the old route becomes solely designated M-50.^[17][18]

In 1961, when the I-96/US 16/M-50 freeway was extended to the northwest in Grand Rapids, the old M-50 routing around the city became M-11 and M-50 was returned to its former alignment along Lake Michigan Drive and Fulton Street, supplanting Bus. M-50.^[19][20] In 1964, the western end of M-50 was truncated from its junction with US 31 back to I-96 south of Lowell at exit 52. The former alignment from exit 40 to Agnew was given the M-45 designation.^[21][22]

In 1996, the highway was truncated as the terminus was scaled back to M-125 in Monroe.^[23][24] Finally on October 4, 2006, the section of M-50 between M-125 and US 24 was also removed, shortening the highway by about a mile (1.9 km).^[25]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Kent	Lowell Township	0.000– 0.063	0.000– 0.101		I-96 – Grand Rapids, Lansing	Exit 52 on I-96
Ionia	No major junctions
Barry–Eaton county line	Woodland–Sunfield township line	22.124	35.605		M-43 west – Hastings M-66 – Battle Creek, Ionia	Western end of M-43 concurrency
Eaton	Sunfield Township	23.423	37.696		M-43 east – Lansing	Eastern end of M-43 concurrency
	BL I-69 north (East Lawrence Avenue)	Northern end of BL I-69 concurrency; eastern terminus of M-79
		41.958	67.525		BL I-69 south	Southern end of BL I-69 concurrency
	Ft. Wayne	Exit 60 on I-69
	Eaton Rapids	51.818	83.393		M-99 north – Lansing	Northern end of M-99 concurrency
		52.317	84.196		M-188 east	Western terminus of M-188
	Hamlin Township	58.240	93.728		M-99 south – Albion	Southern end of M-99 concurrency
Blackman Township	73.258	117.897	46	US 127 north – Lansing	Western end of US 127 concurrency at exit 46 on US 127; northern end of freeway; northbound exit and southbound entrance on US 127
	73.539	118.350	45	Parnall Road	Provides access from eastbound M-50 to northbound US 127 and southbound US 127 to westbound M-50
	74.416	119.761	44	Springport Road
	74.926– 74.934	120.582– 120.595	—	Bus. US 127 south	Southern end of US 127 concurrency and northern end of the Bus. US 127 concurrency; exit 138 on I-94 and exit 43 on US 127; southern end of freeway
	BL I-94 (Michigan Avenue)	Western end of BL I-94 concurrency
		77.901	125.370		BL I-94 east (Michigan Avenue) M-106 north – Stockbridge	Eastern end of BL I-94 concurrency; southern terminus of M-106
	Bus. US 127 north McDevitt Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance from US 127 only; southern end of Bus. US 127 concurrency; eastbound M-50 is briefly concurrent with US 127 but westbound follows a ramp
	Brooklyn	91.508	147.268		M-124 east	Western terminus of M-124
Lenawee	Cambridge Township	94.782	152.537		US 12 – Coldwater, Ann Arbor
	Franklin Township	106.883	172.012		M-52 – Adrian, Chelsea
Monroe	Dundee	124.466– 124.476	200.309– 200.325		US 23 – Ann Arbor, Toledo	Exit 17 on US 23
	Detroit, Toledo
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

Business route

Business M-50 (Bus. M-50) was a 11.084-mile-long (17.838 km)