Leelanau Scenic Heritage Route

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The Leelanau Scenic Heritage Route is a Pure Michigan Byway on the Leelanau Peninsula in Leelanau County in the US state of Michigan that follows three different highways: [1]

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Leelanau County, Michigan County in Michigan, United States

Leelanau County is located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 22,301. The county seat was until recently the unincorporated community of Leland. On August 3, 2004, county voters approved a proposal to move the county seat to Suttons Bay, closer to the county's geographic center. In 2008, the county offices completed their move to a new government center built on 45 acres (180,000 m2) of county-owned land, one mile east of the unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau, where a new county law enforcement center was completed.

Benzie County, Michigan County in Michigan, United States

Benzie County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 17,970. The county seat is Beulah. The county was initially set off in 1863 and organized in 1869.

Glen Arbor Township, Michigan Civil township in Michigan, United States

Glen Arbor Township is a civil township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 859 at the 2010 census. However, the population of the town expands rapidly during the summer months as a result of it being a summer colony.

A Pure Michigan Byway is the designation for a segment of the State Trunkline Highway System in the US state of Michigan that is a "scenic, recreational, or historic route that is representative of Michigan's natural and cultural heritage." The designation was created with the name Michigan Heritage Route by the state legislature on June 22, 1993, and since then six historic, seven recreational and seven scenic byways have been designated by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and another two have been proposed. These byways have been designated in both the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the state. The current name was adopted on December 30, 2014, and it references the Pure Michigan tourism marketing campaign.

M-37 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The southern terminus is near the border between Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties at exit 92 of Interstate 94 (I-94) southwest of Battle Creek. The northern terminus is at the Mission Point Light on Old Mission Point in Grand Traverse County. In between, the highway connects Battle Creek, Grand Rapids and Traverse City. Motorists will travel through agricultural land, forests, suburbs and large cities along the way. The section of M-37 on the Old Mission Peninsula was designated what is now a Pure Michigan Scenic Byway in 2008.

M-26 is a 96.355-mile-long (155.068 km) state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan, running from two miles (3.2 km) east of Rockland to its junction with US Highway 41 (US 41) in Copper Harbor. It generally runs southwest-to-northeast in the western half or Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The northernmost segment, which closely parallels the shore of Lake Superior on the west side of the Keweenaw Peninsula, is highly scenic.

M-25 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The route follows an arc-like shape closely along the Lake Huron shore of the Thumb in the eastern Lower Peninsula between Port Huron and Bay City. It serves the lakeshore resorts along Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay and generally lies within sight of the lake and the bay. All is surface road and generally scenic, except for the freeway segment near the junction with Interstate 75 (I-75) and connection into the US Highway 10 (US 10) freeway.

M-22 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. It is 116.7 miles (187.8 km) long and follows the Lake Michigan shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula, making up a portion of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour. It also passes through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The highway is U-shaped as it rounds the peninsula running through tourist areas in Leland and Suttons Bay in addition to the national lakeshore.

Lake Leelanau Lake in Leelanau County, Michigan, United States of America

Lake Leelanau lies in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The entire lake—which includes two bodies of water, usually referred to as North Lake Leelanau and South Lake Leelanau—covers about 8,608 acres (35 km2) and lies within Leelanau County. The lake is also sometimes known as Carp Lake.

Northern Michigan Lower Peninsula of Michigan in the United States

Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which, obviously, are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.

M-209 was a state trunkline highway in the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. It was located in Leelanau County in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Until it was decommissioned, it was Michigan's shortest state highway. M-209 started at M-109 and went just over 12 mile to Glen Haven. In 1996, M-209's designation was "abandoned", and the road was turned over to the jurisdiction of the Leelanau County Road Commission.

M-204 is a state trunkline highway that runs across the Leelanau Peninsula between Leland and Suttons Bay in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The trunkline runs through a rural section of Leelanau County, connecting two villages with the county seat. Originally a gravel road in 1933, it was later paved within the first three years of existence. Segments were realigned to straighten curves in the late 1930s and early 1970s near the villages of Lake Leelanau and Suttons Bay.

M-72 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan, running from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula. The highway connects M-22 in Empire with US Highway 23 (US 23) in Harrisville. It is one of only three Michigan state trunklines that cross the Lower Peninsula, shore to shore. In between, M-72 runs across Northern Michigan woodland, agricultural areas of the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, and the Au Sable River watershed. The trunkline also provides access to Camp Grayling, a National Guard training facility near the city of the same name. Traffic levels along the highway vary from approximately 800 vehicles a day on the east end to over 32,000 vehicles near Traverse City.

M-123 is a state trunkline highway in the eastern Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. It is one of only a few highways in Michigan that curve around and form a U-shape. In fact, M-123 has three intersections with only two state trunklines; it meets M-28 twice as a result of its U-shaped routing. M-123 also has a rare signed concurrency with a County-Designated Highway in Michigan; in Trout Lake, there is a concurrency with H-40. All of M-123 north of M-28 is a Scenic Heritage Route within the Michigan Heritage Route system.

M-109 is the designation of a state trunkline highway in the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan that runs between Empire and Glen Arbor. The highway is a loop connected to M-22 at both ends that allows tourists access to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive located on a section of sandy forest land between Lake Michigan and Glen Lake. The trunkline traverses an area named the "Most Beautiful Place in America" by Good Morning America, the morning show on ABC. The highway was designated by 1929 and fully paved in 1939.

M-201 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that serves as a spur route for the village of Northport near the northern tip of Leelanau County. The trunkline zig-zags through to provide a path through the village, connecting with the county road that provides access to Leelanau State Park. The highway was first shown on state maps in the late 1940s, and remains unchanged since.

The Leelanau Trail is part of U.S Bicycle Route 35, but also an all paved non-motorized recreational rail trail of 17-mile (27 km) in length that extends from the west side of Traverse City, Michigan to Suttons Bay, Michigan.

Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive Scenic drive in Michigan

The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a scenic route within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in western Northern Michigan in the United States. The roadway, with its "scenic vistas and gentle curves", is located off state highway M-109 between Empire and Glen Arbor. It runs for 7.4 miles (11.9 km) through forest and dunes areas, providing access to scenic overlooks of the Lake Michigan shoreline and the surrounding park land. Interpretive markers along the roadway are keyed to the National Park Service's printed guide to the drive. Over 80,000 vehicles make the trip, in addition to bicyclists, hikers and skiers who use the road each year.

The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively.

The Leelanau Transit Company was a short line standard gauge railroad incorporated in 1919 as the successor to the Traverse City, Leelanau, and Manistique Railroad, which was incorporated in 1901 to build a line from Traverse City, Michigan to Northport, Michigan in order to support a carferry service to Manistique on the Upper Peninsula. This line was a project of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad and completed a connection from Northport to the main north-south line at Walton Junction via the Traverse City Rail Road Company; unlike the latter, however, it was never folded into the parent company.

References

  1. Leelanau Scenic Heritage Route Committee. "The Leelanau Scenic Heritage Route" (PDF). Northwest Michigan Council of Governments. p. 6. Retrieved July 14, 2012.