Outrageous detours

[ftballfan]

I can think of a few:

1. US-31 washed out near the Sauble River in 2008 after a massive rain. The official detour was US-10 east out of Scottville to M-37 to M-55 back to US-31 (M-37 eventually connects with US-31 about 40 miles north of M-55). What didn't help matters is that a road that would likely have been used as a short-term detour, Quarterline Rd, washed out as well (as well as Custer Rd and pretty much every major road in Mason County north of US-10). The one saving grace is that schools had been let out for the summer as two school districts cross the Sauble River in that area.

2. South Branch Rd across the Pere Marquette River in Lake County was closed for construction in late October 2019, when I drove through that area. The official detour was US-10 to M-37 to 7th St to Cherry St to Carr Rd/52nd St. I took a different (and much shorter, albeit part gravel) detour using Young Rd, Landon Rd, Tyndall Rd, and 56th St.

3. Phase II of the Cooley Bridge (M-55 east of Wellston) project this year didn't start until mid-May because of the frost laws being in effect until early May. If it had been closed while the frost laws were in effect, there would have been a LONG detour (either US-31 to US-10 to M-37 or US-31 to M-115; the detour of Snyder Rd, Hoxeyville Rd, and M-37 isn't bad by detour standards). In addition, Red Bridge (Coates Hwy) was still closed for the first few weeks of Phase I (fall 2018) and the normal Red Bridge detour involved Cooley Bridge, so there was a detour of a detour (detour-ception)