Usage
The M in the state highway numbers is an integral part of the designation and included on the reassurance marker shields posted along the side of the highway. Michigan highways are properly referred to using the M and never as "Route 28" or "Highway 28", but as M-28. Michigan is one of only two states that does this, the other one being Kansas. This usage dates from c. 1918–19, when Michigan's state trunklines were first signed along the roadways. The state highway route marker is a diamond with a block letter "M" at the top.
Although "M-nn" outside of Michigan could refer to other state, provincial, local, or national highways, local usage in those areas does not mimic the Michigan usage in most cases. In the United Kingdom, "M" refers to motorways, analogous to freeways in the United States, whereas "M-nn" designations in Michigan simply signify state trunklines in general and may exist on any type of highway. "M-nn" trunklines are designated along eight-lane freeways in urban areas, four-lane rural freeways and expressways, principal arterial highways, two-lane highways in far-flung rural areas, and even M-185, a non-motorized road restricted to bicycles, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians on Mackinac Island.
The highest numbers used for highway designations include M-553 in the UP and I-696 running along the northern Detroit suburbs. The lowest numbers in use are M-1 along Woodward Avenue in Detroit and US 2 across the UP. Most M-numbered trunkline designations are lower than the low 200s, but some have been designated in the low 300s. MDOT has not assigned a designation outside the Interstate System in the 400s at this time. No discernible pattern is to be inferred in Michigan's numbering system, although most of the M-numbered routes lower than 15 tend to be located in or close to the major cities of Detroit and Grand Rapids.
Read more about this topic: Michigan State Trunkline Highway System
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