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M-40 (Michigan highway)
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M-40 is a north-south state highway route in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The northern terminus is at US 31 south of Holland and the southern terminus is at US 12 (the old US 112) in Porter Township. It does not quite reach to the Indiana state line.
All of M-40 is an undivided surface route. Between Holland and Allegan it is heavily traveled (M-89 leads to Battle Creek and a junction with US 131, which connects with Kalamazoo).
begins at an intersection with US 31 on the southeast side of Holland.
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Encyclopedia
M-40 is a north-south state highway route in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The northern terminus is at US 31 south of Holland and the southern terminus is at US 12 (the old US 112) in Porter Township. It does not quite reach to the Indiana state line.
All of M-40 is an undivided surface route. Between Holland and Allegan it is heavily traveled (M-89 leads to Battle Creek and a junction with US 131, which connects with Kalamazoo).
Route description
M-40 begins at an intersection with US 31 on the southeast side of Holland. From there the route travels south via 56th Avenue then east on 146th Avenue to Lincoln Road where it turns to the southeast. Shortly after turning onto Lincoln Road, the highway has an interchange with I-196, the Gerald R. Ford Freeway, at exit 49. North of Lake Allegan, M-89 joins the M-40 from the west and the two highways run together into Allegan. Upon reaching Allegan, they have a junction with M-222 and then continue to the south. Just south of that junction, M-40 and M-89 diverge, with M-40 heading south and M-89 taking off to the southeast.
After leaving Allegan, M-40 travels through the rural areas of southern Allegan County and northern Van Buren County. About seven miles (11 km) north of Paw Paw, the highway has a junction with M-43 which connects South Haven with Kalamazoo. From there, the route continues to the south, running between Maple Lake and Ackey Lake before entering the village of Paw Paw. Just south of Paw Paw, it has a junction with I-94 at exit 60.
After passing I-94, the route swings to the southeast and then back south as it passes through the village of Lawton. From Lawton, the route continues on to the south passing between Cedar and Little Cedar Lake before reaching the Marcellus Highway, where it turns east, briefly, to enter Marcellus and junction with M-216. The route then leaves Marcellus heading south and continues as such, with a slight eastward jog a few miles south of town. The route then has a junction with M-60 in the community of Newberg. After Newberg, the route continues south through fields and the rural areas of Cass County before terminating at US 12 in Porter Township.
History
When M-40 was created around 1920, it originally ran from the Indiana State Line south of Niles and ran north through Dowagiac and Decatur on the present day routing of M-51 then traveled to the northeast where it entered Paw Paw and ended at M-17, which would later become US 12.
In 1923, the southern terminus is scaled back as M-58 took over the routing from Niles to the state line. In the same year, the northern terminus was extended along its present day alignment to end at M-89 in Allegan. In 1925, the routing along Paw Paw Road is turned back to local control as the route is aligned north from Decatur to M-17, where it then runs east and then back to its former alignment in Paw Paw.
In 1926, M-89 is realigned to run in a southeast direction from Allegan to Plainwell and M-40 takes over the old M-89 alignment from Allegan to Martin, which would later become M-222. In 1929, the routing from Allegan to Martin is removed and renumbered M-118, and M-40 is extended to the north out of Allegan along its present day routing to a new terminus in Holland ending at US 31.
In 1960, when the I-94 freeway is completed in Van Buren County, M-40 is signed concurrently with the new freeway for four miles (6 km), between present day exits 56 and 60, and the former route along old M-17 is returned to local control. In 1971, All of M-40 south of I-94 is reassigned the designation M-51 while M-40 is shifted to the east to take over the routing of M-119 between Paw Paw and its intersection with US 12 in Porter Township near Mottville, Michigan. The M-40 designation on the stretch of I-94 between exits 56 and 60 is dropped. In 1994, the northern terminus was scaled back off of the I-196/US 31 business loop to its present terminus at US 31 on the southeast side of Holland.
Major intersections
External links
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