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Highways 120 through 139

M-120 | M-121 | Former M-122 | M-123 | M-124 | M-125 | Former M-126 | US-127 | M-129 | Former M-130 | US-131 | Former M-131 | Former M-132 | M-134 | Former M-135 | M-136 | Former M-137 | M-138 | M-139 | Jump to Bottom


M-120
PLEASE NOTE:
The M-120 route information has moved to its own page: M-120 Route Listing.

M-121
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The M-121 route information has moved to its own page: M-121 Route Listing.

Former M-122
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Former M-122 route information now has its own page: Former M-122 Route Listing.

M-123
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The M-123 route information has moved to its own page: M-123 Route Listing.

M-124
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The M-124 route information has moved to its own page: M-124 Route Listing.

M-125
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The M-125 route information has moved to its own page: M-125 Route Listing.

Former M-126
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Former M-126 route information now has its own page: Former M-126 Route Listing.

US-127
PLEASE NOTE:
The US-127 route information has moved to its own page: US-127 Route Listing.

M-129
PLEASE NOTE:
The M-129 route information has moved to its own page: M-129 Route Listing.

Former M-126
PLEASE NOTE:
Former M-130 route information now has its own page: Former M-130 Route Listing.

US-131
PLEASE NOTE:
The US-131 route information has moved to its own page: US-131 Route Listing.

Former M-131
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The Former M-131 route information now has its own page: Former M-131 Route Listing.

Former M-132
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The Former M-132 route information now has its own page: Former M-132 Route Listing.

M-134
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The M-134 route information has moved to its own page: M-134 Route Listing.

Former M-135
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The Former M-135 route information now has its own page: Former M-135 Route Listing.

M-136
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The M-136 route information has moved to its own page: M-136 Route Listing.

Former M-137
PLEASE NOTE:
The Former M-137 route information has moved to its own page: Former M-137 Route Listing.

M-138
PLEASE NOTE:
The M-138 route information has moved to its own page: M-138 Route Listing.

M-139 Southern Terminus: US-12/Pulaski Hwy southwest of Niles (east of US-12 & US-31 interchange)
Northern Terminus: Nbd: BL I-94/E Main St & Martin Luther King Dr; Sbd: BL I-94/E Main St & Fair Ave, in Benton Harbor
Length: 26.520 miles
Map: Route Map of M-139
Notes: It is ironic that M-139 was originally conceived as an easterly bypass of the Benton Harbor/St Joseph area in the late-1920s, yet for much of its history the route was used as an access into the area from the two subsequent bypasses—I-94 in the 1960s and US-31 in the 2000s. Starting in 2010, however, M-139 took over the former route of US-31/US-33 from Berrien Springs into Niles and replaced the western half of the BUS US-12 designation in Niles, drastically increasing its length and useage. With the extensions in the 2000s and 2010s, M-139 still only exists within Berrien County.
  In a city never devoid of state trunkline routing changes, reroutings and alterations, yet another major highway designation took place in March 2010 when MDOT and the City of Niles came to agreement about the four blocks of Main St through the downtown core of the city. Reportedly due to truck traffic using the BUS US-12 route throug downtown Niles and the City's inability to curb such useage, the City began talks with MDOT to take over jurisdiction of the short segment of BUS US-12 between the BUS US-31/Front St (now M-139) and M-51/5th St junctions. Upon viewing a map of the Niles area, one notes this is a rather short segment of trunkline transferred to local control, yet it resulted in a gap in an otherwise complete business routing through town. Coinciding with the extension of M-139 from Berrien Springs southerly to Niles along the former routes of unsigned OLD US-31 and the orphaned BUS US-31 route, MDOT was able to make sufficient routing changes to accommodate the transfer, although some may remark the resulting arrangement of highway routes into and through the city is somewhat "awkward."
  Longtime site visitor/contributor Marc Fannin wrote in with an interesting factoid: Along the portion of M-139 from I-94 southerly to Scottdale which was superseded by the US-31 designation for nearly forty years (c.1964-2003), the physical street name for the addresses for the homes and businesses along that stretch of roadway remained "M-139" even though the route number was US-31 all those years! — Thanks Marc for the info!
  M-139's length from 2003 to 2010 was 11.82 miles prior to being extended to Niles.
History: 1929 (Sept 2) – A new 8.2-mile long state trunkline is established in the Benton Harbor area, generally acting as an easterly bypass of the Benton Harbor-St Joseph area beginning at US-31 at Scottdale and running almost due northerly to a yet-to-be-established shoreline routing of US-31 from St Joseph to Hagar Shores. However, none of the route is yet constructed at this time.
  1931 – M-139 from US-31 at Scottdale northerly to Napier Ave is completed and opened to traffic. Sources indicate this year is the first where M-139 likely appears signed in the field from US-31 at Scottdale northerly to Nickerson Rd, then northwesterly via Nickerson to Ogden Ave northerly via Ogden to Empire Ave, westerly via Empire to Broadway Ave and northerly again via Broadway to Pipestone St, then northwesterly via Pipestone to US-12/US-31/W Main St in downtown Benton Harbor. Official documents, however, indicate the Napier-Nickerson-Ogden-Empire-Broadway-Pipestone route is not an officially established trunkline, rather just a marked-and-maintained routing while the rest of the "official" M-139 is being constructed.
  1933 – M-139 from Napier Ave northerly to Pipestone Rd is completed and opened to traffic and M-139 traffic is now directed northerly from Nickerson Rd via M-139 to Pipestone Rd, then northwesterly via Pipestone to US-12/US-31/W Main St downtown Benton Harbor. As with the previous in-town routing, which was only marked-and-maintained but never assumed into the trunkline system, Pipestone St from M-139 northwesterly into downtown is only marked-and-maintained.
  1935 – A slight realignment to the marked-and-maintained-only route of M-139 in downtown Benton Harbor removes M-139 from Pipestone between Wall & Main Sts. Traffic is now directed easterly via Wall St and northerly via Market St to US-12/US-31/Main St.
  1936 – Late this year, construction is completed on M-139 from Pipestone Rd northerly to Britain Ave where M-139 traffic is then directed northerly via Fair Ave to a new northern terminus at US-12/E Main St. The former route via Pipestone St, Wall St & Market St was never officially assumed as a trunkline and, therefore, remains in local control.
  1954 (Jan 25) – The new direct route of US-31 from downtown St Joseph northeasterly to Paw Paw Ave north of Benton Harbor (via present-day M-63) is officially assumed into the state trunkline system. The former route of US-31 via Paw Paw Ave from the new alignment north of Benton Harbor southerly into downtown is redesignated as M-139, while US-12/E Main St between Paw Paw Ave and M-139/Fair Ave becomes concurrently signed with M-139 to connect the two segments. It is important to note that the portion of M-139 via Paw Paw Ave between Riverside Dr and downtown Benton Harbor runs via a marked-and-maintained-only route, meaning this portion of Paw Paw is not officially assumed into the trunkline system. Rather the State Highway Dept still hopes to construct M-139 on a direct alignment between the north end of Fair Ave and Paw Paw Ave at Riverside Dr.
  1961 (Jan 6) – In conjunction with the completion of the I-94/US-12 freeway bypass of Benton Harbor and St Joseph, M-139 immediately south of the new freeway to the St Joseph River bridge is realigned and the former route, via Old M-139, is turned back to local control.
  1963 – The first segment of the I-96/US-31 freeway is completed from I-94 at Exit 34 northerly to the Hagar Shores area in northern Berrien Co. US-31 is rerouted beginning at Scottdale to run northerly with M-139 from US-31/US-33 to the new I-94 freeway, then northeasterly via I-94 to I-96 (present-day I-196), then northerly via I-96 to Hagar Shores.
  1964–65 – At some point in late-1964 or early-1965, M-139 is truncated at the I-94 & US-31 interchange south of Benton Harbor. The formerly-concurrent US-31/M-139 from there southerly to Scottdale becomes just US-31.
  1969 (Aug 26) – All of M-139, both the marked-and-maintained portion via Paw Paw Ave from BL I-94/Main St in Benton Harbor northerly to Riverside Dr and the official trunkline portion of Paw Paw Ave from Riverside northerly to US-33 (present-day M-63), is removed from the state trunkline system. In addition, the never-built portion of M-139 from the north end of Fair Ave northerly to the cnr of Paw Paw Ave & Riverside Dr is also cancelled.
  1973 (Sept 14) – A new 0.993-mile long state trunkline routing is established from M-139 just north of Empire Ave northerly on new alignment to Highland Ave, then northerly via Pine St to BL I-94/E Main St. This new route becomes the northbound side of M-139 (Martin Luther King Jr Dr), while the existing M-139 via Fair Ave from BL I-94/E Main St southerly to the intersection with the new trunkline routing becomes the southbound only lanes.
  2003 (Aug 27) – A 9.1-mile extension of the US-31 freeway in Berrien Co is opened to traffic, connecting the northern end of the existing freeway at Berrien Springs with Napier Ave east of Benton Harbor. This is the fourth of five informal "phases" of the freeway in Berrien Co and it removes through traffic off the rather dangerous former route of US-31 between Berrien Springs and I-94. The former route of US-31 between the freeway at Berrien Springs (at Exit 15) and I-94 south of Benton Harbor/St Joseph is redesignated as an extension of M-139, instead of an extension of M-63 as had been originally proposed and confirmed by several MDOT documents.
  2010 (Mar 10) – While the extension of M-139 from its southern terminus at the US-31 freeway at Berrien Springs to downtown Niles was already being planned, a new development in downtown Niles resulted in the transfer of four blocks of the BUS US-12 route beginning at the BUS US-31 (soon-to-be M-139) to city control. As MDOT would not allow for a gap in the existing route of BUS US-12, the M-139 designation is now further extended southwesterly from downtown Niles, supplanting the western half of the former BUS US-12 route. M-139 now terminates at US-12 southwest of Niles.
Freeway/Expwy: No portion of M-139 is freeway or expressway.
NHS: Entire route.
Photographs:
Weblinks: M-139 @ Michigan Highway Ends – photos of the termini of M-139 at Dan Garnell's archived Michigan Highway Ends website.
  Niles Area Highways: 2010– Map – An overview map of the Niles area showing the current state of the various highway routings in and around that city.
  Michiana Roads – part of Marc Fannin's Roadfan.com website dedicated to the area of Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana known by many as "Michiana."

 

M-120 | M-121 | Former M-122 | M-123 | M-124 | M-125 | Former M-126 | US-127 | M-129 | Former M-130 | US-131 | Former M-131 | Former M-132 | M-134 | Former M-135 | M-136 | Former M-137 | M-138 | M-139 | Jump to Bottom


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