History
When the state highway system was first signed in 1919, M-50 started at an intersection with M-23 (present-day US 12) in Cambridge Junction, south of Brooklyn. From there it ran to the southeast, similar to its present day routing, through Dundee and Tecumseh into downtown Monroe where it intersected M-56. There was a concurrency between M-50 and M-65 between Dundee and the Ida area which became an overlap with US 23 after 1926. By the end of 1927, M-50 underwent a major lengthening as its western terminus was extended through Jackson to Eaton Rapids, Charlotte, and Vermontville before intersecting M-39 just east of Woodbury. From this point, M-50 was routed over M-39 to US 16 near Alto. M-50 then ran concurrently with US 16 into Grand Rapids where it turned to the west and traveled through Allendale before terminating at a junction with US 31 in Agnew. A few years later in 1929, the route between Charlotte and Woodbury was changed as M-50 was routed north out of Charlotte to the former M-39 and replaced it east to Woodbury; the former routing was turned over to local control.
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). 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.
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. 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.
In 1996, the highway was truncated as the terminus was scaled back to M-125 in Monroe. 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).
Read more about this topic: M-50 (Michigan Highway)
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