Marquette, Michigan in Sept/Oct?

[getemngo]

(Posted to Great Lakes Roads with minor variations)

There's never been an Upper Peninsula meet to my knowledge, so this is as good an excuse as any. The UP's first roundabout, at the eastern terminus of the US 41/M-28 bypass, will open around the end of August.

At the very least, I'd like to explore the roundabout and clinch both M-553 and former M-554. The rest is up for debate. To the north is a historic alignment of M-35 that includes a beautiful Pennsylvania Truss Bridge (actually moved there from Pennsylvania!).

Heading west and then north, depending on how far we go, we can encounter:

• Trunk Line Bridge No. 1, built by the Michigan State Highway Department in 1914
• some ancient alignments of US 41 and M-28
• Alberta, a village once entirely owned by Ford Motor Company
• historic M-35 from L'Anse to east of Skanee
• Mt. Arvon, Michigan's highest point at 1979 ft

Unfortunately, there's no quick way to get from historic M-35 in Baraga County to historic M-35 in Marquette County -- see M-35: The Highway Henry Ford Stopped.  Northwestern Rd is definitely 4wd only, and AAA Road is just a tad better. If backtracking from a huge 3/4 loop doesn't sound like fun, I'm open to other ideas.

Eric N., A.J. Bertin, and I have all given a preliminary RSVP of "yes."

As for the date, is anybody open to Labor Day weekend (September 4 or 5)? A lot of Michigan roadgeeks already head in that direction for the Mackinac Bridge Walk. Otherwise, I'm free on September 18, October 16, and October 30.

Let me know what works best, and hopefully we can come up with something fun!

[DanTheMan414]

I know last fall we had already thrown the idea out there of doing this year's Michigan Roads Meet in the Tri-Cities area (Saginaw, Bay City & Midland), and some planning has already begun to that effect, looking at a late September or early October timeframe. We've talked a few times over the years about that possibility of doing a roads meet in the U.P., and the location in itself presents some challenges for those who may be looking for the one-day experience and such.

My 2 cents would be, the U.P. would be great for a two-day experience, maybe cover western one day and eastern the next, or something like that. I'd say to really plan it out and all, it might be easier taking more time, giving people more advanced notice, and consider that for the big 2011 Michigan Roads Meet, maybe doing it in the summertime or such. It's a ways off, but also given some of what we'd already started planning, it's something to consider to really maximize the roads exploration possibilities for the U.P.

[A.J. Bertin]

Yes... I'm very excited about the prospect of a U.P. roads meet. I don't know, however, whether Labor Day weekend would be doable for me. I'm pretty sure I will not be participating in this year's Mackinac Bridge Walk. But I'll have to see. It's much more likely that I'd be able to attend if this meet is held on either September 18, October 16, or October 30. I also like Dan's suggestion of making it a 2-day meet, but I'd probably only be able to attend one of the two days if that happens this fall.

Regarding the Tri-Cities meet in late September or early October, I'm definitely up for that as well. 

[Scott5114]

Perhaps a UP meet could be coordinated to occur with the bridge walk as one of its highlights? Or would that take too much time?

[rawmustard]

Perhaps a UP meet could be coordinated to occur with the bridge walk as one of its highlights? Or would that take too much time?

Perhaps I should wait for Michael to comment on this since he has first-hand knowledge, but I would tend to not try to organize a large meet around the bridge walk. As traffic is predictably horrendous, you couldn't really have the meet take place only on Labor Day itself–any tour would have to be held on another day during that weekend since you'll go nowhere fast if you try to do one after the walk.

As an aside, the last two years I've taken trips into the U.P. for fall color touring. Whether I make it up this year will depend on other trips I make. If I attend the U.P. Fall Beer Festival in Marquette September 11, I very much doubt I'd return the first or second week of October when I would normally make my trip. Plus I have one of those birthdays with a "0" on the end coming up, and I'd like to stay close to home in case someone wants to do something for it.

[DanTheMan414]

As an aside, the last two years I've taken trips into the U.P. for fall color touring. Whether I make it up this year will depend on other trips I make. If I attend the U.P. Fall Beer Festival in Marquette September 11, I very much doubt I'd return the first or second week of October when I would normally make my trip. Plus I have one of those birthdays with a "0" on the end coming up, and I'd like to stay close to home in case someone wants to do something for it.

Chances are that, based on early feedback & the fact that it looks like this would probably be Labor Day weekend, we'll be doing the Saginaw-Bay City-Midland meet in early October.

[getemngo]

This discussion has mostly moved to greatlakesroads, but I can definitely state that the Marquette meet won't happen in October.

[bulldog1979]

Yesterday was the first ever road meet in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The tour started over lunch at Vango's in Marquette. From there we headed out to the west of Marquette. Following US 41/M-28 to Midway Drive (CR 502) and up County Road 510. Until 1939, CR 510 was part of M-35. We drove up to the Steel Bridge that crosses the Dead River. This bridge is an Allegheny through-truss that the Michigan State Highway Department moved to the site from Pennsylvania in the early 1920s. The Marquette County Road Commission is currently building a new concrete bridge and roadway to bypass the historic bridge. The Steel Bridge will remain in service for pedestrian and bicycle use.
<http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11154_11188-29396--,00.html>

Continuing north, we drove past the end of the paved section of CR 510 up to Powell Township. CR 510 turns northeasterly to connect to CR 550, but the former M-35 continues northwesterly for several miles, ending in the middle of nowhere as "Blind 35". This is the section of highway that was built before Henry Ford helped stop construction to curry favor with the Huron Mountain Club. the MSHD abandoned all plans to finish a highway through the Huron Mountains in 1939.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-35_(Michigan_highway)>
<http://www.michiganhighways.org/indepth/M-35_huronmtns.html>

After backtracking down Blind 35 back to the main road, we detoured into Big Bay, home of the crime at the heart of Anatomy of a Murder. We decided to forgo the planned drive across the Triple A Road from northern Marquette County into northern Baraga County because of time and possible road conditions. Instead we drove down CR 550 back to Marquette to the new US 41/M-28 roundabout that opened in the middle of August. We did a full loop around it before turn west once again, this time following the US 41 expressway bypass of downtown. In Marquette Township, we turned up Brookton Road and followed CR 492 west. We stopped at Dead Man's Curve, home of the first highway centerline in the nation. In 1917, CR 492 was known as the Marquette-Negaunee Road, and it was part of M-15 and later M-28. The centerline was painted by Kenneth Ingalls Sawyer. The county later honored K.I. Sawyer by naming the original county airport for him. That airport was purchased by the federal government and became K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. (It is now in part Sawyer International Airport.)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_41_in_Michigan>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Road_492_(Marquette_County,_Michigan)>

Continuing along CR 492, we crossed the unique duplex of M-35/CR 492 where M-35 yields to CR 492 in a staggered intersection on either side of a rail line. This rail line is a part of the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad's Eagle Mills yard. The yard is next to the former Pioneer Ore Improvement Plant, one of the first plants to concentrate and pelletize iron ore for shipping to steel mills. When we reached Negaunee, we drove BUS M-28 through to downtown and cut over to Lucy Hill. Lucy Hill is located at the end of County Road, which was previously part of M-35 before it was rerouted out of downtown Negaunee. The naterbahn luge run on Lucy Hill crosses the end of County Road. We turned back into downtown to use the Rail Street overpass that runs over BUS M-28. Rail Street and CR 480 are part of a once proposed rerouting of M-28 between Negaunee and the Harvey area. We continued on BUS M-28 to downtown Ishpeming and back out to US 41, making an obligatory stop at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-28_(Michigan_highway)>
<http://www.dayoopers.com/thetrap.html>

The last westward stops were to see the Peshekee River Bridge (Trunk Line Bridge No. 1) that was built in 1914. This was the first bridge built in the state by the MSHD. We continued farther west to see the results of a project in Michigamme. MDOT shaved off the top of a hill and realigned US 41/M-28 to remove a set of dangerous curves.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunk_Line_Bridge_No._1>

The return trip back to Marquette took us along the roads that made up US 41/M-28 before the 1960s four-laning. We drove along Heritage Drive (Co. Rd. JAD), Forest Drive (Co. Rd. JB) , Midway Drive (CR 510) and Northwoods Road (Co. Rd. HIA) between Negaunee and Marquette. The bridge over the Carp River on Heritage Drive is once again open to vehicles under 30 tons now that a second bridge has been built over the previous one. This overlay helps distribute the weight to allow traffic to safely cross the old structure. The meet concluded with dinner at the last remaining Bonanza in the state of Michigan.

I'd like to thank Sam Scholtens for starting the leg work for the first ever Upper Peninsula road meet. As a native Yooper, it was great to help share some of the unique history of the roads in Marquette County, as well as get back to see the new roundabout. Sadly, we didn't make our attempt to cross the Triple A road to Skanee Road (the former M-35 in Baraga County) and the side trip up to the top of Mt. Arvon. It was a fun-packed day though trekking around Marquette County all the same. I'd also like to thank everyone who helped plan and execute the meet.