Upper Peninsula Highways

This weekend I spent some time in Wisconsin visiting my sister. The journey to and from where she lives is always a long drive, no matter which route we take. I went with my parents, which is always nice to have company on such a journey. But driving the roads between Michigan and Wisconsin is like night and day. The state of Wisconsin is putting billions of dollars into their road infrastructure statewide, not just in the most congested areas of the state like Milwaukee or Madison. Compare that to the U.P., where the roads have been status quo for years, except for the typical maintenance like crack sealing and roadway resurfacing. The Upper Peninsula is in need of an east-west four-lane divided highway, as well as a north-south divided highway to service the western and central portions of the peninsula. I-75 serves the eastern U.P. from the Mackinac Bridge to the Sault, but that's it. For the remainder of the Upper Peninsula, traveling to and from destinations is done by two-lane highways.

And I know there'll be people coming onto this blog completely denouncing the idea of additional lanes on U.P. highways, saying that traffic counts do not back up the idea of more divided highways in the Upper Peninsula. Drive on M-35 from Menominee to Escanaba and you'll see that traffic is starting to increase on that stretch of roadway. Or how about US-2 from St. Ignace to Escanaba or M-28 between Harvey and Munising? They are all roadways in need of expansion with increasing amounts of traffic. More and more people are driving these days and some are traveling more miles than ever just to get to work. You also have to include the increasing amount of truck traffic on highways. With railways becoming more and more extinct by the decade here in the U.P., how else are goods delivered here? The traffic is only going to get worse before it gets better.

Several years back, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) had the opportunity to bypass a few cities in the southern Upper Peninsula that were experiencing increasing traffic problems. Instead of developing plans to create bypasses of those two cities, MDOT nixed those plans and instead tried developing plans to improve the stretches of highways entering and exiting those cities. Four lanes of traffic became five and the roadways have received surface improvements. But yet, the traffic is still heavy and it's only predicted to get worse in the coming years. I realize that when communities get bypassed by new highways, it leads to decreased traffic within that city. Communities like Peshtigo and Oconto in Northern Wisconsin are facing that same dilemma these days when US-41 traffic was bypassed around their cities. However, when your community is the only major commercial and retail center for miles, I don't believe that problem will exist so much here in the Upper Peninsula. I know it's a very touchy subject for some, but I don't believe it would hurt communities in the U.P. like it would in other areas of the country.

For roadways to become reconstructed and expanded, it's going to take money. Unfortunately, the state of Michigan can barely fund essential services these days - let alone building new highways in the Upper Peninsula. It's why these dreams of east to west or north to south divided highways in the U.P. are a long way off. Believe me, the roadway infrastructure in the U.P. needs to be expanded. I know because I've seen it for my very eyes. Even U.P. representatives to the Michigan State Senate and House have bemoaned the fact that it takes so long to drive down to Lansing because the U.P. highways are so small and are only 55 MPH. So it's not like no one has complained about the issue. But right now, it all comes down to money. And in a state where they are actually talking about decreasing the amount of road projects that are completed in a year rather than increasing, I'd say those dreams of more U.P. highway work are a long, long ways off.

Roadgeek

So, are you a roadgeek? I admit that I qualify under that term. And there's a majority of people out there who probably don't know what a roadgeek is. Well simply put, the definition of "roadgeek" as found on Wikipedia is this: "an individual involved in "roadgeeking" or "road enthusiasm" - an interest in roads as a hobby." As far as I can remember, I've always been interested in roads and road construction. Now there are such people out there who are hardcore roadgeeks where they travel hundreds if not thousands of miles across a particular region just to see what the particular numbered state route or freeway looks like. Take for example in Michigan, where hardcore roadgeeks travel all across the state to "clinch" their trips to see all of the M-numbered highways, US-numbered highways, and Interstate highways in the state. Some even take pictures of the designated highway shield as proof they've been there. Now I don't take it that far and if I happen to be traveling through a particular area that I've never driven or haven't visited in awhile, then I take notice but always focus on the roadways. I admit, seeing the discrepancies in highway construction and planning can be quite fascinating.

Take for example here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As many of you may know, the U.P. is pretty isolated with miles of trees taking up a lot of the acreage up here. Most of the highways here are two-laned, except when you hit the bigger towns and cities where they tend to be four-laned. The U.P. is home to only one Interstate highway and that's I-75 that starts at the Mackinac Bridge in the Southeastern corner of the U.P. and heads north to Sault Ste. Marie where the highway heads up into Canada. I live in the central portion of the peninsula and it's pretty rare for me and my family to see that end of the U.P. since it's a couple of hours away. If we go anywhere out of the area, usually it's to the south and west. We have at least five US-numbered highways with the majority of them being two-laned (but four-laned in bigger towns and cities). And then of course the state routes, which have the letter "M" in front of the route numbers, like M-28 which is the longest route in the Upper Peninsula. These are very similiar to the US routes up here. There's not a lot of major road building that takes place up here. The population generally stays pretty flat from year to year, so the state department of transportation doesn't feel the need to upgrade the routes to freeway standards. And for the most part, I agree with their decision making. However, they could stand to invest a little more money in the highway transportation needs up here.

You take for example the state of Wisconsin. US-41, the major north to south route up here, makes it's way south through eastern Wisconsin, beyond Milwaukee and heads out of state. Wisconsin is currently undertaking a major upgrade to the final segment of the highway that's two-laned between the communities of Oconto and Peshtigo. Currently it's a busy stretch of road with many vehicles traveling north or south on just two lanes. Traffic accidents have been more frequent as well, so Wisconsin stepped up the plate and began upgrading the route. So the need to upgrade that strech of roadway makes sense. So what are they doing here in Michigan on US-41? Not much of anything. But then again, the state of Michigan is hurting financially as it is. So it's not really much of a surprise that the state is laying low in expanding their routes. They're having a hard enough time as it is maintaining good pavement quality on their roads statewide as it is. But here in the central and western Upper Peninsula, a major north to south four-laned divided highway is sorely needed. Heck, we don't even have a divided highway that goes east and west along the entire length of the peninsula. And I know what the traditionalists and preservationists are gonna say - if you want to keep the U.P. scenic and natural as it is now, don't build major highways. But goods and services need better means of getting across the U.P. than on two-laned highways. Also, if we're to have more higher paying jobs come to our area, we need the bigger highways. It's as simple as that. Marquette, the largest city in the Upper Peninsula, is not served well by our current highway system. Major development is occuring along the highway through the city already and it's causing the roadway to become very congested. So there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to transportation issues here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

I could go on and on about roadway issues up here, but I'm probably boring a lot of people out there on this topic. It's a topic I am passionate about and hopefully someday the traffic issues up here will begin to be improved. Obviously it's not going to happen overnight and with the way our economy is these days, it may be years and years before we finally see something evolve. Like I said earlier, it's not like our roadways up here are congested beyond belief and there's no relief in sight. Most of the highways up here are adequate but there are areas needing improvement. I see how much more aggressive the state of Wisconsin is when it comes to repairing and doing major construction on their highways and it's often like night and day between the two states. Then again, they pay more for their gasoline taxes to repair their highways. They say the state of Michigan's roadway system is crumbling with each passing day. And with an antiquated funding system currently in place for our roads, they'll only get worse before they get better. That's a pretty scary thought. Before you know it, we'll be driving on gravel roads more than paved roads soon enough (locally, at least).