M-212 marker

M-212

Center Street
M-212 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length0.732 mi[1] (1,178 m)
ExistedDecember 29, 1937[2]–present
Major junctions
West endAloha State Park
East end M-33 in Aloha Township
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountiesCheboygan
Highway system
← M-211→ M-213

M-212 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. It provides access from M-33 to the community of Aloha on Mullett Lake's eastern shore and Aloha State Park, where the highway ends. It is shorter than all other signed highways in the state, including M-143 at 0.936 miles (1.506 km) and the business route, Business M-32 in Hillman at 0.738 miles (1.188 km), which is about 32 feet (9.8 m) longer.[1]

M-212 was assigned on December 29, 1937, from the intersection with Second Street to an intersection with US Highway 23 (US 23). In 1940, the state of Michigan rerouted US 23 and replaced it with M-33.

Route

M-212 begins at an intersection with Second Street and the Tromble Trail north of the Aloha State Park entrance gate.[3][4] The community was originally a stop on the Detroit and Mackinac Railway, named after a trip to Hawaii by the local sawmill owner.[5] The state highway runs northward on Second Street away from the park gate before turning eastward on Center Street. The railroad right-of-way is now the North Eastern State Trail, which M-212 crosses along Center Street in Aloha. Eastward, the highway intersects Third and Fourth streets, both of which are separated by woodlands and residences. This is followed by a large clearing, giving way to a farm to the north and more residences to the south.[3][4] Beyond this there is a large field where M-212 terminates at an intersection with M-33 in Aloha Township.[3][4] According to the Lansing State Journal, "most people could walk the darn thing in about 20 minutes."[6]

History

The Michigan State Highway Department assigned the M-212 designation to its current alignment from what was then US 23 on December 29, 1937.[2] It has broadly remained the same since.[3] Originally, US 23 ran along the highway at the eastern terminus of M-212,[7] but the highway department realigned this along the shore of Lake Huron in 1940 and later assigned M-33 to the old alignment, which remains the case.[8][3]

M-212 was called a "smidgin" of a highway as part of a group of roadways that lacked the glamor of other highways in a profile of the shortest highways in the state in 1972.[9] In 1996, the highway became the state's shortest when M-209 in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was transferred to local control and lost its state highway designation.[10] Since M-212 gained this superlative, in 2018 a radio station in Kalamazoo called it "likely" the state's quietest highway, or the highway with the lowest annual average daily traffic.[11]

Major intersections

M-212's terminus at the state park

The entire highway is in Aloha Township, Cheboygan County.

mi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
0.0000.000Second StreetAloha State Park entrance
0.7321.178 M-33 – Cheboygan, Onaway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Michigan Department of Transportation (2021). Next Generation PR Finder (Map). Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Michigan Department of Transportation (June 27, 1966). "Cheboygan County" (PDF) (Map). Right-of-Way File Application. Scale not given. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Sheet 63. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Michigan Department of Transportation (2015). Pure Michigan: State Transportation Map (Map). c. 1:975,000. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. § E11. OCLC 42778335, 900162490.
  4. 1 2 3 Google (June 8, 2008). "Aloha, MI" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
  5. ↑ Romig, Walter (1986). Michigan Place Names. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8143-1838-6 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ "Michigan Wheels Facts". The Source. Lansing State Journal. May 20, 2003. p. 3. Retrieved March 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department (December 1, 1927). Official Highway Service Map (Map). [c. 1:810,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. OCLC 12701195, 79754957.
  8. ↑ Michigan State Highway Department & Rand McNally (April 15, 1940). Official Michigan Highway Map (Map) (Spring ed.). [c. 1:850,000]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department. § E11. OCLC 12701143.
  9. ↑ "Just Smidgins of Highways: But They Make It Possible to Get to Important Places". The State Journal. Lansing, Michigan. April 17, 1972. p. B1. Retrieved October 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Girard, Jojo (September 28, 2021). "The Long and Short of It: Five Unique Michigan Highways". Grand Rapids, Michigan: WFGR-FM. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  11. ↑ Meier, Eric (March 25, 2018). "This is Michigan's Quietest Highway". Kalamazoo, Michigan: WKFR-HD. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
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