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M-160 is a former state trunkline route existing from August 29, 1929 until October 22, 1935 and as an unsigned state trunkline route from c.1940 until January 28, 1942.
Western Terminus*:	US-25/Gratiot Ave at the cnr of Henry B Joy Blvd–Clair St on the north side of Mount Clemens
Eastern Terminus*:	N Jefferson Ave, 2.355 miles east of Gratiot Ave on the present-day Selfridge Air National Guard Base, at approximately the location of modern-day Building 154–Fuel System
Final Length*:	2.355 miles
Maps:	Route Maps of Former M-160
Notes:	* The termini and final length for Former M-160 reflect the beginning and ending of the route and its length as of the time of the route's cancellation on January 28, 1942.
	M-160 was among the more unusual state trunkline designations to ever appear on Michigan’s highway system—or perhaps not, depending on how you want to classify it. There have been two iterations of a trunkline route designated as M-160, however, neither was likely ever signed in the field and neither has ever been shown on any publicly-distributed highway maps issued by the State Highway Dept. Indeed, that this site's author even found their existence is only due to a dogged review of historic internal State Highway Dept maps and atlases and an ADHD-fueled determination to track down every route designation ever used in the state. There is very little information about either of the M-160 routes anywhere and almost nothing available onine.
	Springport Spur. M-9 as signed along existing roads in 1929, including the route earmarked for M-160.       The first iteration of M-160 dates back to the Summer of 1929 when a short, ½-mile long state trunkline route was established beginning at Green St (along the proposed M-9 eastern "bypass" of Springport, which itself had been established in June 1928) and continued west along Main St through downtown Springport, terminating at the intersection of Maple St–Mechanic St & Main St. When M-9 (today's M-99) was being planned as a northerly extension of M-64 from Albion northerly through Eaton Rapids to Lansing in the late 1920s, the State Highway Dept projected the new highway would deviate from the existing road network south of Springport and bypass most of the village to the east before rejoining existing roads at the Jackson/Eaton Co line on its way toward Eaton Rapids. This was likely to avoid crossing the branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad running from Albion to Lansing twice near Springport. However, this eastern bypass of Springport was not complete when M-9 was signed between Albion and Lansing, so the existing roads—Eaton Rapids Rd in the Sprinport area—were posted as M-9, even though some of these roadways had not been officially established as the state trunkline route. Within a year, the half mile stretch of Main St in Springport from the officially established (but not yet constructed) route of M-9 westerly through downtown was itself established as a spur trunkline to connect the center of the community with the proposed bypass and given the designation M-160. (See Map.) M-160 on a 1930 State Highway Dept map—it's the almost imperceptible red line at Springport.       More than a half-decade would pass with no progress on the unbuilt stretch of M-9 in the Springport area before the State Highway Dept ultimately decided to just scrap the unbuilt segment of M-9 and, instead, just officially assume the existing, signed route of M-9 as a state trunkline route with an eye to improving the alignment some in the coming years. Up to this point, the half mile of Main St in Springport, which had been officially established as the M-160 Springport spur in 1929, had been signed as part of the temporary route of M-9 in the area, so when the signed route of M-9 became the official route both south and north of the village in 1935, the short spur route was simply incorporated into the route of M-9, relegating the M-160 designation to history... as far as the Springport spur was concerned. At present, it is unclear if the State Highway Dept had that one-half mile stretch of Main St in Springport posted with M-160 signs (alongside the "temporary" M-9 signs) from 1929 to 1935 or if M-160 had never been signed at all, although the latter seems to be the most logical conclusion.       Interestingly, just five years after the original M-9 (since redesignated as M-99 in the Spring of 1940) plans were scrapped at Springport and M-160 was decommissioned, the New York Central Railroad had purchased the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern line and, since the NYC already had a Lansing-to-Jackson line of its own, abandoned the stretch of the former LS&MS line from Springport through Eaton Rapids to Lansing in 1940, relegating the Albion-to-Springport trackage as a lightly-used spur line. Then, after the State Highway Dept opted to not construct a grade separation over (or under) the NYC Springport spur when the US-12 freeway (present-day I-94) was constructed in 1960, opting instead for an at-grade crossing of the freeway using crossing signals, it sounded the death knell for the spur line, which was abandoned altogether in 1969. So, forty years after being initially proposed, the "Springport bypass" was no longer needed to avoid crossing the railroad twice, as it no longer existed.
	Henry B. Joy Boulevard.       Meanwhile in Metropolitan Detroit... Selfridge Field, which began in 1916 as the Joy Aviation Field, constructed by the Packard Motor Car Co for testing the aircraft engines it had constructed for use in World War I, had been an Army Air Field since initially being leased by the goverment in 1917 then purchased outright in 1921. With preparations building up to what most assumed would be an eventual involvement in World War II, Selfridge Field underwent a major $13.5 million expansion program beginning in 1939. One of the components of the program included a widening and resurfacing of the direct access four-lane roadway into the field from US-25/Gratiot Ave on the north side of Mount Clemens. This roadway, named Henry B. Joy Boulevard after the President of Packard, a self-avowed "aviation enthusiast" who had built the airfield under the auspices of the automobile company he ran, had existed since it was constructed by Macomb Co in 1917, but was reconstructed in 1941 as a "National Recovery Secondary" (NRS) roadway under the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933, one of the government recovery programs started during the Great Depression. To accomplish this reconstruction, the roadway was handed over to the state around 1940 and became a state trunkline, assigned the M-160 route designation, abeit unsigned in the field as this would be a temporary trunkline establishment. Once the roadway was widened and reopened to use, it was handed back to County control, leaving the M-160 route designation now unsigned on two different routes.
	Less than nine months after its cancellation as a state trunkline route, the publicly-accessible portion of the former M-160 on Henry B. Joy Blvd was greatly shortened when almost 58% of the route within an expanded Selfridge Field was permanently closed to all public (civilian) traffic due to "wartime necessity." M-29/Jefferson Ave through the facility was also closed approximately a month later. Soon after, much of the highway constructed by the State Highway Dept in 1941 was physically intersected by new runways and taxiways and, itself, was partially incorporated into one of the taxiways. At the time, almost none of the 1941 concrete roadway was removed or obliterated (see Photos section) and remains in place to the present-day!
	In the end, M-160 has been a rather "unlucky" route designation if we choose to personify such things. It has been used twice on the Michigan state highway system and, as far as is known, has never been actually signed in the field. Each iteration has been for a short duration and along rather short routes.
History:	Springport Spur History:
	1928 (June 28) – The 11.5 miles of proposed M-9 in western Jackson Co from US-12/Michigan Ave east of Albion northerly past Springport to the Eaton Co line south of Eaton Rapids is established as a state trunkline route. As noted in the Notes section above, the officially-established route departs from the existing Eaton Rapids Rd south of Springport and follows an unbuilt route past downtown Springport to the east then turns northeasterly to rejoin Eaton Rapids Rd at the county line. However, M-9 is "temporarily" signed along the existing route of Eaton Rapids Rd (and Maple and Main Sts through Springport) for the time being as a "marked-and-maintained" route. (See Map.)
	1929 (Aug 29) – With M-9 intended to bypass downtown Springport to the east, the State Highway Dept establishes a spur trunkline route along Main St from the proposed bypass route at Green St westerly across the LS&MS Railroad through the downtown district to Maple–Mechanic Sts where it terminates. While this has already been part of the "marked-and-maintained" (signed) route of M-9 for over a year, the officially-established spur is given the M-160 designation for when the M-9 bypass route is completed and opened to traffic. It is assumed that since Main St is already signed as M-9, it is not dual-posted as M-160 as well at the present time. (See Map.)
	1935 (Oct 22) – More than seven years after its initial establishment, the State Highway Dept scraps plans for the unbuilt stretch of M-9 (present-day M-99) from south of Springport to the Jackson/Eaton Co line, instead officially establishing the "temporarily"-signed segments of M-9 instead with future upgrades to the existing roadways proposed. Thus, the segment of M-9 along Eaton Rapids Rd from the start of the unbuilt bypass south of Springport north to Main St in Springport, as well as Eaton Rapids Rd from the unbuilt bypass as Green St east of downtown Springport then northeasterly to the Eaton Co line are officially assumed into the trunkline system. As the half mile of Main St in Springport had previously been established as the M-160 spur route, it is simply incorporated into the route of M-9, after having been signed as part of that route since its inception. The M-160 designation—likely never actually signposted in the field—is decommissioned.
	Henry B. Joy Boulevard History:
	1917 (Aug) – Henry B. Joy Blvd is constructed as a two-lane access roadway from Gratiot Ave (part of Trunk Line 19, later US-25, now M-3) on the north side of Mount Clemens easterly into the Joy Aviation Field (later Selfridge Field, then Selfridge Air Force Base, now present-day Selfridge Air National Guard Base) in Harrison Twp northeast of Mount Clemens. Even though State War Preparedness Board pays 60 percent of the $75,000 cost of the concrete roadway, Macomb County still faces a $4,000 defecit for its part in the project.
	1934 – A project to widen the grade of Henry B. Joy Blvd between US-25/Gratiot Ave and Selfridge Field is completed. The 2.36-mile contract for the project is awarded to Utica-based William E. Malow for $10,841.
	c.1940 – Internal State Highway Dept maps fail to state when Henry B. Joy Blvd is established as a state trunkline route, although evidence points to that occurring by 1940. The primary reason for the transfer to state judisdiction is to allow for the reconstruction and widening of the road as a part of overall defense preparations in the lead-up to World War II. Thie new 2.355-mile long trunkline is given the M-160 designation. While the internal department records fail to give a precise date of transfer, they do clearly state "M-160 was never signed in the field." (See Map.)
	1941 (June 6–Aug 29) – A $130,000 project for the capping (resurfacing with concrete atop an existing concrete surface) and widening to 44 feet of Henry B. Joy Blvd begins June 6 and is completed and opened to traffic on August 29. The project is completed by the Bureau of Public Roads (forerunner of the Federal Highway Administration) under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Dept. This doubles the capacity of the roadway, increasing it from two-lanes to four 11-foot lanes. At the same time, a four-foot wide concrete sidewalk is constructed on the south side of the highway by WPA labor with WPA materials.
	1942 (Jan 28) – With the reconstruction and widening project completed, the entire 2.355 mile length of unsigned M-160 along Henry B. Joy Blvd is cancelled as a state trunkline route and transferred to county control. The second iteration of M-160 comes to a close and that route designation has remained unused on the state highway system ever since.
	1942 (Sept 18) – Henry B. Joy Blvd is closed by the Army Air Corps to all civilian and non-official military traffic from Sugar Bush Rd easterly into Selfridge Field as it has become "impracticable to use Joy Boulevard to the gates of the field" due to excessive traffic of contractors working on expansion projects at the airfield. While Henry B. Joy Blvd remains open to all traffic from US-25/Gratiot Blvd easterly to Sugar Bush Rd, all regular traffic headed to the base now must continue northerly along Gratiot to Hall Rd, then easterly via Hall to Jefferson Ave and southerly to the north gate. (Sugar Bush Rd here is later renamed Irwin Dr after a portion of the roadway between Henry B. Joy Blvd and Hall Rd [Wm P. Rosso Hwy] is, itself, closed and subsumed under Selfridge Field runways and other expansion activies.) M-29/Jefferson Ave through the heart of Selfridge Field was closed one month prior and M-29 traffic is rerouted around the facility via downtown Mount Clemens. (See Map.)
	1945 (July 7) – A check in the amount of $370,581 from the U.S. Army is deposited for Macomb Co to "purchase" the segments of Former M-160/Henry B. Joy Blvd and M-29/Jefferson Ave closed to civilian traffic in 1942 due to "wartime necessity."
Controlled Access:	No portion of former M-160 upon decommissioning existed as freeway or expressway, existing largely before modern-day control of access principles are practiced.
Photographs:	Henry B. Joy Boulevard (Former M-160) – modern-day photo and aerial imagery
Weblinks:	Selfridge Air National Guard Base – official website

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