Route Description
M-553 begins as a two-lane rural highway east of Gwinn at an intersection with M-35 in the community of New Swanzy. From there it runs north through some commercial properties into the Sands Plains, a sandy area sparsely covered with Jack Pines. The highway runs through an intersection with M-94 near the west gate of the former K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base. In this area, the trunkline is parallel to a line of the Canadian National Railway which connects mines of the Marquette Iron Range to Escanaba. M-553 crosses over the rail line west of the runway at the Sawyer International Airport located at the former Air Force base. On the north side of the airport, M-553 intersects Kelly Johnson Memorial Drive, the airport access road named for Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, who was a noted aviation engineer at Lockheed who helped design the SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft. The trunkline continues farther through woodlands and turns to the northwest. M-553 passes the Marquette County Fairgrounds and reaches CR 480 at the Crossroads area just north of the Sands Plains and the Blueberry Ridge ski trail; the area around the intersection has several businesses.
North of the intersection, M-553 passes some residential subdivisions in the northern end of Sands Township. As the highway continues northward, the landscape transitions into hilly, wooded terrain. The trunkline descends through a series of curves, first to the northwest and then a steep downhill curve, known locally as Glass' Corrner, northeasterly alongside the Marquette Mountain ski area. The highway enters the city of Marquette and runs past the front of the ski resort's chalet before crossing the Carp River. North of the river, the roadway ascends part of the west side of Mount Mesnard before leveling off near the intersection with Division Street. Past that intersection, M-553 follows McClellan Avenue as a four-lane boulevard divided by a center turn lane through a residential area on the south side of the city. The trunkline passes between the Superior Hills Elementary School to the east and the Marquette Golf and Country Club to the west. There is a pedestrian bridge over the roadway adjacent to the school, and north of the overpass the center turn lane ends. With few exceptions, the adjacent properties in this area do not have direct access to the highway. M-553 descends one last hill and terminates at a Michigan left intersection with the US 41/M-28 expressway; McClellan Avenue continues north of the terminus through a business district to a residential area.
Like other state trunkline highways, M-553 is maintained by MDOT. 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 2010 showed that, on average, 3,615 vehicles between the M-35 and M-94 junctions, and 10,021 vehicles north of Division Street, used the highway daily. No section of M-553 is listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
Read more about this topic: M-553 (Michigan Highway)
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