U.S. Route 131
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| U.S. Route 131 |
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| Length: | 268.80 mi[1] (432.59 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1926 | ||||||||
| South end: |    I-80/I-90/Indiana Toll Road near Middlebury, IN |
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| Major junctions: |
 I-94 near Kalamazoo, MI
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| North end: |  US 31 at Petoskey, MI |
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U.S. Route 131 (US 131) is a north-south United States highway. All but 0.60 miles (0.97 km) of its length is within Michigan. The total length of the highway is around 269 miles with approximately 169 miles of that freeway. US-131 also features six business routes. When the US Highway system debuted, US-131 was designated along the path of what had been M-13 in Michigan.
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[edit] States traversed
| Major cities |
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The highway passes through the following states:
[edit] Michigan
US-131 runs for a distance of approximately 268 miles (431 km) in Michigan, from the Indiana state line northerly to Petoskey. It is a major highway in West Michigan, serving the cities of Three Rivers, Portage, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Kalkaska, and Petoskey. The highway is an important link between Grand Rapids and the tourist areas of northwest Michigan.
It has full interchanges with four freeways: I-94 southwest of Kalamazoo, M-6 on the south side of Grand Rapids, I-196 near downtown Grand Rapids, and I-96 on the north side of Grand Rapids. The portion between I-196 and I-96 also bears the unposted designation of I-296.
US 131 is a freeway from south of Portage to north of Manton, Michigan; it is a divided surface highway from just south of Portage to Three Rivers, a portion of which is constructed to "expressway" standards on controlled-access right-of-way (except that in Schoolcraft it is an undivided city street). While further northerly extension of the US 131 freeway from Manton toward Kalkaska and beyond has been shelved by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), a southerly extension of the freeway to or near the Indiana state line is still under study. Improvements to the US 131 corridor from Portage to the Indiana Toll Road have been underway for several years and while a late-2005 decision by MDOT to not pursue a new alignment, controlled-access route through Saint Joseph County seemed to put an end to that discussion, public outcry and backlash from local legislators caused the department to re-evaluate this decision.
[edit] Indiana
US 131 extends 3,168 feet (966 m) into Indiana before terminating at the entrance to the Indiana Toll Road, the entrance being a few hundred feet to the north of the Toll Road. SR 13 has its northern terminus at the same point.
US 131 markers exist at the intersection of SR 13 and SR 120 roughly one mile south of the Toll Road, but these as a rule are qualified with the word "TO".
[edit] Major intersections
Exit list of U.S. Route 131 is the list of all exits on the freeway portion of the highway.
Following is a list of many of the major highways US-131 intersects:
- I-80/I-90/Indiana Toll Road near Middlebury, Indiana
US 12 in White Pigeon, Michigan
M-60 in Three Rivers, Michigan- I-94 in Kalamazoo, Michigan
M-89 in Plainwell, Michigan
M-6 in Byron Center, Michigan
M-11/28th Street in Wyoming, Michigan
I-196 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
I-296 unsigned concurrency begins in Grand Rapids, Michigan and ends in Walker, Michigan
I-96/M-37 in Walker, Michigan
M-46 concurrency begins at Cedar Springs, Michigan concurrency ends at Howard City, Michigan
M-20 in Big Rapids, Michigan
US-10 in Reed City, Michigan
M-55/M-115 in Cadillac, Michigan
M-66/M-72 in Kalkaska, Michigan
M-32 in Warner Township, Michigan- US 31 in Petoskey, Michigan
[edit] History
US-131 debuted, along with the rest of the U.S. Highway System, in late 1926, although at the time it only ran from the Michigan-Indiana state line northerly to the small northern Michigan community of Fife Lake in Grand Traverse County. The Michigan State Highway Department had originally planned to construct a new-alignment highway connecting Fife Lake with the Traverse City area, which would have allowed US-131 to connect with its "parent" route, US-31. After a dozen years and no progress on the Fife Lake-Traverse City connection, the US-131 designation was instead routed along what had been designated as M-131 since 1926 through Kalkaska to US-31 at Petoskey, where it finally met US-31 for the first time.
The first portion of the US-131 corridor to be converted to freeway standards was completed in 1957 between Wayland in Allegan County and M-11 (28th Street) in Wyoming in Kent County. Further extensions in the 1960s took the US-131 freeway both south (to Plainwell, then past Kalamazoo to north of Schoolcraft) and north (through Grand Rapids to I-96) of that original freeway segment. The 1960s also saw a short segment of US-131 freeway constructed south of Cadillac.
The 1970s saw the US-131 freeway expand to the north of Grand Rapids, first to Cedar Springs then to north of Howard City. In the 1980s, major construction in the corridor extended the freeway northerly past Big Rapids and Reed City to a connection with the freeway heading southerly from Cadillac. As of 1986, the US-131 freeway ran from north of Schoolcraft to Cadillac.
By the late 1990s a major section of the US-131 freeway in Grand Rapids was found to be sinking as a result of gypsum mining which left voids in subsurface material. After a major study was completed to analyze the various options for the so-called "Grand Rapids S-Curve," the entire one mile segment of freeway was shut down in January 2000 for complete reconstruction. The new "S-Curve" structure, which includes the bridge spanning the Grand River, was built with an additional through lane in each direction and completed in 209 and 283 days for the north- and southbound lanes, respectively. Early completion of the project allowed the primary contractor, Kiewit, to earn approximately 90% of a possible bonus.
In 2001, a freeway bypass of Cadillac was completed and Manton, the next community to the north, was bypassed with an extension of the US-131 freeway in 2003.
[edit] Termini
The northern terminus of US 131 is in Petoskey, Michigan, at an intersection with US 31. Its southern terminus is approximately five miles (8 km) north of Middlebury, Indiana at an intersection with the Indiana Toll Road, just south of the Michigan-Indiana border, where it continues as State Road 13.
While logic and some maps indicate otherwise, US 131 has never extended any farther south than the Indiana Toll Road since its inception in 1926. Indeed, prior to 1959 US 131 terminated at the Michigan-Indiana state line and, as such, existed in only one state.
Historical Note: Until 1959, US 131 turned westerly and was concurrently designated with US 112 (now US 12) to what is now M-103, then southerly to the Indiana state line.
[edit] Business routes
- BUS US 131 Big Rapids
- BUS US 131 Cadillac
- BUS US 131 Grand Rapids, routed on the following streets: Leonard, Division, and Oakes. The northern terminus is at US 131, Exit 87 Leonard Ave. The southern terminus is at US 131, Exit 83B just north of Wealthy St.
- BUS US 131 Kalamazoo
- BUS US 131 Manton
- BUS US-131 Three Rivers
[edit] Lane configurations
- From Indiana Toll Road to Three Rivers — two lanes, undivided, except through Constantine.
- Three Rivers — five lanes undivided.
- From Three Rivers to Moore Park — four lane divided expressway.
- From Moore Park to freeway terminus south of Portage — four lanes, divided except in Schoolcraft.
- From beginning of freeway to metropolitan Grand Rapids — four lane freeway.
- In metropolitan Grand Rapids (76th St to I-96) — six lane freeway, except in "S-Curve" where it is eight lanes. The lanes are reversed at the I-196 interchange.
- From metropolitan Grand Rapids to north of Manton — four lane freeway.
- From north of freeway to Petoskey — two lanes, undivided, except through Kalkaska and Mancelona and where passing lanes have been constructed.
- Within the Petoskey area — five lanes, undivided.
[edit] Future
The 2007 Michigan Department of Transportation five-year construction plan features details on future plans for the US-131 corridor in Saint Joseph County. According to the plan, early preliminary engineering will be complete in 2007 with primary engineering then lasting through 2009. Right-of-way acquisition is then projected to run from 2009 through 2011 with construction commencing in 2010. Total length of these improvements in 16.4 miles. While the final Environmental Impact Statement had not been published as of February 2007, previous statements have indicated a western bypass of the village of Constantine is included within the project. MDOT has also stated that a full freeway on new alignment from the Indiana Toll Road northerly to north of Three Rivers would cost over $200 million to build and that present traffic demands do not warrant the cost of a full freeway facility. As such, any realignment of US-131 south of Three Rivers is expected to be built as two-lane, limited access highway.
[edit] Related routes
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- US-131 Listing at Michiganhighways.org
- US-131 Endpoint Photos
- Former US-131 Southern Terminus (now M-103)
- Former US-131 Northern Terminus (@ M-113/M-186 Jct)
- Endpoints of US highways
[edit] References
- ^ Bessert, Christopher J. (2006-10-22). Michigan Highways: Highways 120 through 139. Michigan Highways. Retrieved on November 15, 2006.
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