U.S. Route 27 in Michigan

This article is about the former section of highway in Michigan. For the entire length of the current highway, see U.S. Route 27.

US Highway 27 marker
US Highway 27
Map
US 27 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length218.195 mi[1] (351.151 km)
ExistedNovember 26, 1926 (1926-11-26)[2][3]–April 16, 1999 (1999-04-16)[4]
HistorySigns were removed in 2002[5]
Major junctions
South end I-69 / US 27 at Indiana state line
Major intersections US 12 near Coldwater

I-94 in Marshall
I-96 near Lansing
I-69 / US 127 near East Lansing

US 10 near Clare
North end I-75 near Grayling
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountiesBranch, Calhoun, Eaton, Clinton, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare, Roscommon, Crawford
Highway system
← M-26→ M-27

US Highway 27 (US 27) is a part of the US Highway System that now runs from Miami, Florida, to Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the US state of Michigan, it was a north–south state trunkline highway that entered the state south of Kinderhook and ended south of Grayling. Its route consisted of a freeway concurrency with Interstate 69 (I-69) from the state line north to the Lansing area before it followed its own freeway facility northward to St. Johns. From there north to Ithaca, US 27 was an expressway before continuing as a freeway to a terminus south of Grayling.

Created with the rest of the US Highway System on November 11, 1926, US 27 replaced a pair of state highways between the state line and the Cheboygan area. For a time, US 27 even extended from Cheboygan to St. Ignace over the Mackinac Bridge. The highway was converted into a series of freeways starting in the late 1950s. The northernmost section between Grayling and Mackinaw City, bypassing Cheboygan, became part of I-75, and US 27 was truncated to Grayling. Starting in the 1960s, the southern sections were included in I-69. The last section of Interstate in Michigan was completed in 1992 when I-69/US 27 opened southwest of Lansing. In the 1990s, a bypass of St. Johns north of Lansing was built, the last freeway segment of US 27 to open under that designation. On April 16, 1999, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the removal of the US 27 designation from the state of Michigan; this change was put into place when the highway number was removed from signage in 2002. Former segments of US 27 from its pre-freeway configuration are still state highways in the form of M-27 between Indian River and Cheboygan or the various business routes in the state that previously bore Business US 27 (Bus. US 27) designations.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference PRFA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Weingroff, Richard F. (January 9, 2009). "From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the US Numbered Highway System". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
  3. ^ Bureau of Public Roads & American Association of State Highway Officials (November 11, 1926). United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials (Map). 1:7,000,000. Washington, DC: United States Geological Survey. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved November 7, 2013 – via Wikimedia Commons.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference SCRN99 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ranzenberger was invoked but never defined (see the help page).