Route Description
M-17 begins at exit 37 along US Highway 23 (US 23) on the Ann Arbor – Pittsfield Township border. West of this cloverleaf interchange, Washtenaw Avenue is Business Loop Interstate 94 (BL I-94) and Business US 23 (BUS US 23). M-17 follows Washtenaw Avenue east of this interchange through Pittsfield Township and Ypsilanti Township. The street is five lanes wide through an urban area between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti running east-southeasterly. Although there are many residential areas near M-17, particularly to the south, the road itself is dominated by commercial development, including numerous restaurants. M-17 crosses into the city of Ypsilanti at Hewitt Road. This intersection provides access north to Rynearson Stadium, home field for the Eastern Michigan University (EMU) Eagles football team.
Continuing east-southeasterly along Washtenaw Avenue, M-17 meets the southeast corner of the EMU campus at Oakwood Avenue. The highway follows the southern edge of campus to Cross Street, where the highway splits to follow a one-way pairing of streets. Eastbound M-17 continues along Washtenaw Avenue while westbound traffic follows Cross Street. Eastbound traffic turns southward at Hamilton Street for two blocks before turning east along Michigan Avenue, meeting westbound BUS US 12. The two highway designations merge, running concurrently through downtown Ypsilanti. The section of Michigan Avenue between Hamilton and Huron streets is actually a wrong-way concurrency because although it is a two-way boulevard, the eastbound direction is M-17 and the westbound direction is BUS US 12. Both directions of traffic for both highways rejoin at Huron Street, as the westbound M-17 traffic uses Huron Street north to Cross Street and westbound BUS US 12 turns south along Huron Street. Northeast of the Huron Street intersection is Riverside Park. Michigan Avenue forms the extreme southern park boundary just before it crosses the Huron River. At Ecorse Road, M-17 turns south in Ypsilanti Township through a residential area, separating from BUS US 12. Ecorse Road turns east four blocks north of I-94/US 12 and runs parallel to the freeway. Past Harris Road, US 12 turns northeasterly on a separate expressway. Where it meets Ecorse Road, US 12 follows Ecorse Road, replacing M-17. This junction marks the eastern terminus of M-17 west of Willow Run Airport.
Like other state highways in Michigan, M-17 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). As a part of these maintenance duties, the department tracks the traffic levels along its roadways using a metric called annual average daily traffic (AADT). This is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. In 2009, MDOT's surveys found that the highest AADT along the trunkline was 26,141 vehicles daily on the westernmost section near the US 23 interchange while the lowest counts were along the north–south section of Ecorse Road at 8,926 vehicles. The section of M-17 from US 23 to the western junctions with BUS US 12 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roadways important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
Read more about this topic: M-17 (Michigan Highway)
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