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US-2A & US-41A are former state trunkline routes existing from July 22, 1931 to July 1, 1935*.
Southern Terminus*:	US-2/US-41 at the cnr of Ludington St & Lincoln Rd on the west side of Escanaba
Northern Terminus*:	US-2/US-41 at the cnr of present-day Co Rd 517 (P Rd) between Escanaba and Gladstone
Final Length*:	5.2 miles*
Maps:	Route Map of Former US-2A & US-41A
Notes:	* The termini and final length for US-2A & US-41A reflect the beginning and ending of the routes and their lengths as of the time of the routes' decommissioning on July 1, 1935.
	Information on the existence and history of US-2A and US-41A at Escanaba is quite scarce and the routes likely only existed for four years, at most. Indications are that M-35 may have also been concurrently-designated with much of the two alternate routes throughout their existence. Unlike other mysterious and/or questionable routes from the history of the state trunkline highway system in Michigan, US-2A and US-41A do make a few fleeting appearances, more or less, on publicly-available maps. The route is labeled as "US-2A" on internal State Highway Dept "Trunkline Determination Maps" which show every state trunkline route segment ever officially established and their establishment and cancellation dates. The 1933 Automobile Club of Michigan (today's AAA Michigan) map of the state also shows it labeled as "US-2A" and the route itself does show up as a trunkline highway on official state maps of the period issued to the public, albeit unlabeled with a route designation. The 1932 "Gladstone (SE)" provisional topographic map by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) also labels the route as "US HY NOS. 2A & 41A" as well as "STATE HY No. 35" (see map at right). Routes US-2A and US-41A at Escanaba were ultimately cancelled in January 1935 as part of an effort by State Highway Commissioner (and future Governor) Murray D. "Pat" Van Wagoner to eliminate many parallel and otherwise less-useful trunkline routes from the system, although the new "bypass" route for M-35 around Escanaba would not be complete until the end of that year, so M-35 may have remained signed along this route as a "marked-and-maintained" highway for the rest of 1936 or it may have been rerouted westerly via Ludington St from downtown Escanaba to meet US-2/US-41 at the cnr of Ludington St & Lincoln Rd where it would then turn northerly toward Gladstone.
	Click for larger map. US-2A and US-41A ran along what was had been the mainline route for US-2/US-41 as it traveled into downtown Escanaba and then turned north through the hamlet of Wells on the way up the western shore of Little Bay de Noc toward Gladstone. While the new "bypass" route for US-2/US-41 from Gladstone northerly toward Gladstone (the present-day route) was established as a state trunkline route in two segments in 1928 and 1929 (and the former route cancelled as a trunkline route), it wasn't completed and opened to traffic until July 1931. As such, the existing route for US-2/US-41 along Ludington St, Stephenson Ave and Sheridan Rd remained as a "marked-and-maintained" route still maintained as a state highway along roads technically under local control. Interestingly, less than a month after the new US-2/US-41 "bypass" was opened to traffic, much of the former route—the segment from Ludington St downtown northerly via Stephenson Ave and Sheridan Rd then through the hamlet of Wells and across the Escanaba River on the 1911 Bay Shore Road Bridge, to the relocated US-2/US-41 route south of Gladstone—was actually re-established as a trunkline route! This is when the US-2A and US-41A designations were assumedly applied to the route, although M-35 seems to have remained along those roads as well during that time.
	US-2A/US-41A at Escanaba being a former route bypassed by a newer, higher-quality trunkline as well as being closely-parallel to the new route both directly contributed to its cancellation as a state trunkline route. However, the Bay Shore Road Bridge spanning the Escanaba River at Wells, built in 1911, was reportedly constructed "on the cheap" and began experiencing ongoing maintenance issues early on. The State Highway Dept may have desired to rid itself of problematic span as well. The bridge was ultimately closed to traffic by the Delta Co Road Commission on October 26, 1949 and the southernmost two spans of the structure passing over the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad were demolished using dynamite on March 2, 1957, as it was a continuing hazard to passing trains. While some portions of the bridge collapsed on their own in the ensuing decades, the remainder of the bridge was finally demolished in the summer of 2015—66 years after it was initially closed to traffic. Interestingly, the bridge was closed and sat abandoned for nearly twice the amount time it was actually open to traffic!
History:	1928—1931 – From 1928 to mid-1931, a new route for US-2/US-41 between Escanaba and Gladstone in Delta Co is constructed in stages with trunkline establishment and cancellations taking place along the way as well: 1928 (May 28) – A new 3.1-mile trunkline route for US-2/US-41 is established along Lincoln Rd (N 23rd St) from the existing route at Ludington Ave northerly to 14th Ave N, although the new highway has not yet been completed. Simultaneously, the 0.7-mile portion of the route along Stephenson Ave from Ludington Ave north to Washington Ave at Sheridan Rd is cancelled as a trunkline route, but remains signed as a "marked-and-maintained" route. 1928 (Fall) – A new concrete highway is completed (and opened to local traffic) from existing US-2/US-41/Ludington Ave northerly along Lincoln Rd (N 23rd St) to approximately 14th Ave N by the Upper Peninusla State Fairgrounds. The state highways remain signed on their existing routes for now. 1929 (Aug 26) – The remaining 3.4 miles of the new alignment for US-2/US-41 between Escanaba and Gladstone is established from 14th Ave N in Escanaba northerly to the existing route (present-day Co Rd 517/P Rd). The 3.5-mile stretch of the existing route on Sheridan Rd from the Chicago & North Western Ry crossing (present-day 17th Ave N) in Escanaba northerly to the north city limit, then northerly along Co Rd 426/N 3rd St, northeasterly into Wells on Main St, northerly again along N 1st St, crossing the Escanaba River on the Bay Shore Road Bridge, continuing northerly Co Rd 517/P Rd to the new alignment of US-2/US-41, is cancelled as a state trunkline route as well. However, work on the new highway continues and the former route remains a "marked-and-maintained" route. A failure of the Bonney Falls Dam and the resulting flood damages a central pier in the not-yet-completed Escanaba River bridge on the new highway, necessitating removal and rebuilding of the pier, delaying completion of the new highway. 1931 (June 26) – With the completion of a storm drain to carry rainwater from the new highway under the C&NW Ry underpass in north Escanaba and the final concrete paving completed, the new US-2/US-41 route between Escanaba and Gladstone is finally opened to traffic. (It has been the established route for 10 months.) Maintenance ceases on the former (marked-and-maintained) route and reverts to local control.
	1931 (July 22) – Less than a month after the completion of the new US-2/US-41 "bypass" route from Ludington St northerly in Escanaba, most of the former route, which had been a "marked-and-maintained" route for US-2/US-41 and M-35 while the new route was being completed, is actually re-established as a state trunkline route. It seems not only is M-35 retained along that route through Wells, but it is also signed as part of a joint US-2A/US-41A route into downtown Escanaba, then ortherly through Wells to the new "bypass" route south of Gladstone. While the 0.4-mile segment of the forner route of US-2/US-41 along Ludington St from the new "bypass" into downtown was not re-established, it seems it was "marked-and-maintained" as part of the new US-2A/US-41A. The re-established highway is the 4.8-mile segment from Ludington St northerly via Stephenson Ave, Sheridan Rd, then Main St & 1st St through Wells, across the Bay Shore Road Bridge and northerly along present-day Co Rd 517/P Rd to the relocated US-2/US-41 route south of Gladstone.
	1931 (Aug 30) – Washington Ave in the northern part of Escanaba, a diagonal street running between Stephenson Ave–Sheridan Rd (now signed as US-2A/US-41A/M-35) and the new US-2/US-41 "bypass," is reconstructed and referred to as being a "branch of M-35" and a connection for M-35 traffic to the new bypass route. Washington Ave is never established as a trunkline route, but the media reports may mean it was either a signed "marked-and-maintained" connector route or M-35 itself may have been routed via Washington St to the bypass, leaving just US-2A and US-41A to run northerly through Wells along the former route.
	1935 (Jan 7) – While a new, southerly extension of the Escanaba "bypass" route south from Ludington St to serve as a through route for M-35 traffic to avoid having to travel through residential and business districts in the city is not yet complete and open to traffic, the 4.8-mile route for US-2A/US-41A/M-35 which had been re-established in July 1931 is cancelled again as a state trunkline route as part of an effort by the State Highway Dept to remove parallel and redundant state highway routes from the trunkine system. Since the new connection to M-35 south of the city is not yet complete, M-35 is either retained on the now-re-cancelled route as a "marked-and-maintained" route for the time being or it runs westerly from Stephenson Ave via Ludington St or northwesterly via Washington Ave, either of which would also be "marked-and-maintained" routes along streets technically under local control. However, it is assumed the US-2A and US-41A designations are retired at this point and those route markers removed from the route.
	1936 (Nov) – The new route for M-35 from the existing route at Lake Shore Dr in the southern part of Escanaba then northerly to the south end of 23rd St, then north along an upgraded 23rd St (present-day Lincoln Rd) to US-2/US-41 at Ludington St is completed and opened to traffic. Any remaining M-35 route markers along the former US-2A/US-41A route are removed and any state maintenance of the route ceases.
Bridge History:	1935—2015: Bay Shore Road Bridge Timeline – The bridge spanning the Escanaba River at Wells, which carried T.L. 12/T.L. 15 (1913–27), US-2/US-41/M-35 (1927–1931), US-2A/US-41A/M-35 (1931–1935), and Co Rd 517 (1935–1949), has a long history: 1911 – The bridge opens to traffic. 1931 – Mainline US-2/US-41 moves to a new, modern bridge constructed on the bypass one mile upstream. 1935 – The bridge is transferred from state to county control (as Co Rd 517) with maintenance taken over by the Delta Co Road Commission. 1940s – The bridge is posted with a weight limit due to ongoing structural issues. 1949 – The County closes the bridge due to its unsafe condition. 1957 – The southernmost two spans of the bridge are removed by the County to prevent that portion of the bridge falling onto E&LS RR trains passing under it. 2015 – The remains of the abandoned bridge are finally demolished.
Controlled Access:	No portion of Former US-2A & US-41A upon decommissioning existed as freeway or expressway, existing largely before modern-day control of access principles are practiced.
Photographs:
Weblinks:	US-2 Route Listing US-41 Route Listing M-35 Route Listing Bay Shore Road Bridge – from Nathan Holth's HistoricBridges.org site: "This is the remains of a mostly collapsed bridge that was once one of the longest t-beam bridges in Michigan." This bridge no longer exists. (Built in 1911 even prior to the existence of T.L. 12 & 15.)

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