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M-210 is a former state trunkline route existing from May 27, 1933 until December 6, 1938. | |
Western Terminus*: | M-21/Bluewater Hwy at cnr of Pewamo Rd, approximately 1¼ mile west of downtown Pewamo |
Eastern Terminus*: | M-21 at cnr of E Main St on the Pewamo east village limit (and Ionia/Clinton Co line) |
Final Length*: | 1.939 miles |
Maps: | Route Map of Former M-210 |
Notes: | * The termini and final length for M-210 reflect the beginning and ending of the route and its length as of the time of its decommissioning in late-1938. |
M-210 was a short, but somewhat intriguing, state trunkline route serving the Village of Pewamo in eastern Ionia County for about 6½ years in the 1930s. From the time it was first designated as Trunk Line 21 (T.L. 21) in eastern Ionia Co in the 1913, M-21 ran along the south side of the Grand River between Ionia and Pewamo via Lyons. Then, as part of the effort to upgrade and modernize M-21 from Grand Rapids easterly through Lowell and Ionia and into Clinton Co, M-21 was relocated onto a new alignment north of the Grand River between Lowell and Pewamo. The Lowell-to-Pewamo segment was largely completed in 1931, however a southern bypass of Pewamo took longer due to delays in constructing a grade separation at the Grand Trunk Railway line just west of the village. While M-21 had previously entered Pewamo from the south along Hubbardston Rd before turning easterly via Main St to head out of the village and into Clinton Co, once the majority of the highway east of Ionia had been completed on the north side of the river, with the exception of the Pewamo Bypass, M-21 was routed on a temporary detour route through Pewamo entering the village from the west along Pewamo Rd, then jogging to the south across the Grand Trunk Railway via State St (Hubbardston Rd), then easterly along the former route of M-21 on Main St as it exited the village. Once the Grand Trunk underpass was completed on the new M-21 Pewamo Bypass in 1932, the temporary route through the village was no longer signed as a state trunkline route. However, it can be assumed local civic leaders were desirous of having a trunkline connection into or through the village again, so in 1933—during an era when many similar state trunkline spur routes were being established around the state, the temporary M-21 detour route from 1932–32 was re-established as a trunkline route and given the designation M-210. At least one State Highway Dept source labeled the route as "M-21A" although no publicly-available map has been found showing this route as anything other than M-210. M-210 lasted as a loop route off M-21 serving the VIllage of Pewamo through 1938 until the State Highway Advisory Board announced 40 changes in the state trunkline system involving 115 miles of highway route on November 11, 1938 including the elimination of many of the trunkline spurs which had been established less than a decade prior. Then on December 6, 1938, M-210 was cancelled as a trunkline in its entirety and turned back to county and village control. |
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As the both ends of M-210 were at M-21 on either side of the village of Pewamo, it essentially acted like a business connection for M-21. Indeed, around the time of the cancellation of M-210, the State Highway Dept began assigning business connection designations—e.g. Business Routes—in various areas of the state. If M-210 had been commissioned a decade later, it would have likely been designated BUS M-21 instead. | |
History: | 1929 (Nov 25) – The 10.7-mile realignment of M-21 between the Ionia east city limit and the Ionia/Clinton Co line is established on the north side of the Grand River as part of the upgrades and improvements to the M-21 corridor from Grand Rapids easterly through Ionia Co to the Clinton Co line, although construction on this segment will not be complete for two years. The new route for M-21 approached Pewamo from the west via present-day Pewamo Rd, then jogs southerly slightly before turning easterly again at the Pewamo west village limit at Spaulding Rd. From there, it continues easterly along Jefferson St through the village to East St then makes a slight northerly job to merge into the existing route of M-21 on the east village limit. However, this was not to ultimately be the new route for M-21 through Pewamo. |
1931 (Aug 31) – Close to the time the new route for M-21 from Ionia easterly is nearing completion, the easternmost 1.8 miles of that new route—essentially the portion from just west of Pewamo easterly through the village to the Ionia/Clinton Co line—is cancelled without having been constructed. In its stead, a new 2.086-mile southern bypass of Pewamo is established along the present-day route of M-21, possibly to facilitate a more advantageous location for an underpass at the Grand Trunk Railway like westof the village, which is the route that ended up being constructed. | |
1932 (Fall) – The M-21 Pewamo bypass is completed and opened to traffic with the completion of the Grand Trunk Railway underpass west of the village. The temporary detour through the center of the village is removed. | |
1935 (May 27) – A new 1.9-mile long state trunkline route is established with the designation M-210 running through the Village of Pewamo starting at the western end of the M-21 Pewamo bypass, traversing the downtown area of the village and ending at the eastern end of the M-21 Pewamo bypass. M-210 begins on the west where Pewamo Rd splits off from M-21/Bluewater Hwy west of Pewamo, then continues easterly via Pewamo Rd entering the village and continuing easterly along Lincoln St to State St, then turning southerly one block via State St, before turning easterly again via Main St, terminating at M-21 at the intersection with E Main St on the eastern limits of the village. The section of M-210 along E Main St from State St easterly was formerly the route of M-21 from 1913–1929, while the portion along Pewamo Rd, Lincoln St and State St was part of the M-21 "detour route" while the Grand Trunk underpass was being constructed 1931–32. | |
1938 (Nov 11) – The State Highway Advisory Board announces 40 changes in the state trunkline system including the cancellation of 115 miles of short spurs and loops across the state. One of those changes includes the cancellation of M-210 at Pewamo in its entirety. The M-210 designation has not been used on the Michigan state trunkline highway system since. | |
Controlled Access: | No portion of former M-210 upon decommissioning existed as freeway or expressway. Those types of highways did not exist at the time of the decommissioning of M-210. |
Weblinks: |
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