M-52 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan. The southern terminus is on the Ohio border, where it continues as State Route 109 (SR 109). The highway passes through communities like Adrian, where it intersects US Highway 223 (US 223), Chelsea and Webberville along its course. It crosses some major rivers, including the River Raisin and the Shiawassee. The section of the highway between M-50 and Manchester was built as a limited-access highway. M-52's northern terminus is at M-46, west of Saginaw.

Adrian previously converted their downtown streets to one-way traffic between 1950 and 1973. The traffic pattern created an unusual arrangement in the routings of the two state highways downtown. Southbound M-52 followed Winter Street, which also carried both eastbound and westbound directions of the US 223 business loop. These streets carried both highways around the downtown business district in this arrangement until November 2009.

M-52 is an original state trunkline highway, dating to the 1919 formation of the system. Other segments of the modern routing were designated M-92 and M-47 at the time. Extensions to M-52 supplanted M-92 completely and M-47 partially along their routings. These extensions completed the modern M-52 routing in the late 1960s.

Route description

M-52 starts at the Ohio state line as Adrian Highway in Fairfield Township, Lenawee County, where it is the continuation of SR 109 into Michigan. The highway runs north to Adrian where it intersects US Highway 223 (US 223) at the city border with Madison Township.

In downtown Adrian, M-52 runs north along Main Street to Church Street. Since November 2009, the one-way streets were converted back to two-way functionality. Both directions of M-52 now turn east along Church, then north along Broad Street. At Front Street, traffic is diverted west back to Main Street. Continuing north out of downtown Adrian, M-52 follows Main Street over the South Branch of the River Raisin and out of the city limits, where it once again becomes Adrian Highway. The highway curves from running north-northeast back to due north. West of the city of Tecumseh, the trunkline intersects M-50. M-52 continues north as a limited-access highway. Access to and from the highway is limited to select cross roads only. Just south of the county line, the highway intersects with US 12 before crossing into Washtenaw County.

thumb|left|M-52 north of I-94 intersection, Chelsea

The limited-access section of M-52 continues north through western Washtenaw County, where it ends in Manchester. Just south of Chelsea, M-52 crosses Interstate 94 (I-94). The highway continues through downtown Chelsea and turns northwesterly through the Waterloo State Recreation Area in the northwesternmost part of the county. The highway clips the corner of Jackson County, running for almost through Waterloo Township before crossing into Ingham County south of Stockbridge. The trunkline continues north into Shiawassee County and runs through Perry before crossing I-69. Continuing north, M-52 curves northeasterly into downtown Owosso intersecting M-21 west of M-71's western terminus. M-52 continues northward parallel to the Shiawassee River into Saginaw County. The northern terminus of M-52 is an intersection with M-46 west of Saginaw in Thomas Township. By July 1, 1960, M-92's southern end was shifted westward, terminating west of Clinton at US 112 on a new roadway south of Manchester. M-52 was extended around 1962 north between M-50 and US 12 (the former US 112) west of Tecumseh and Clinton. This extension ended at M-92's terminus with US 12. M-52 was then extended north supplanting the M-92 designation in its entirety. M-52 at this time runs north from the Ohio state line to Millville in southwestern Ingham County. In the late 1960s, Stockbridge Road between Webberville and Stockbridge was upgraded to state highway standards and uploaded from the county to the state. This construction was shown on the 1969 state map. When it was completed later that year, M-52 was extended northward a second time, to I-96 outside of Webberville. Where Stockbridge Road crossed I-96, M-52 was continued north, supplanting M-47 through Webberville and north to the junction with M-46 west of Saginaw. This designation change shortened M-47 to its current southern terminus in Saginaw Township.

thumb|left|300px|The previous highway assignments on the one-way streets in Downtown Adrian|alt=M-52 previously ran along the one-way Main, Church, Broad, Front and Winter streets in downtown Adrian

In downtown Adrian, the highways previously split into an uncommon arrangement of one-way streets. This arrangement was similar to a traffic circle in how the traffic was routed through the central business district on Church, Broad, Front and Winter streets. The first one-way pairing started on Main Street at the intersection with Winter Street. Northbound traffic continued on Main Street, while southbound traffic was routed along Winter Street. At Church Street, westbound Bus. US 223/northbound M-52 turned east for a block on Church and then north onto Broad Street. Then the highway designations continued on Broad Street three blocks north to Front Street, passing to the east of the downtown businesses. The designations were then routed west along Front Street. At Main Street, M-52 turned back north again as a two-way street. In the opposite direction, southbound M-52 traffic was diverted from Main west on Front Street. Front Street west of Main Street carried southbound M-52 and westbound Bus. US 223 traffic one block west to Winter Street, which then turned down Winter. Westbound Bus. US 223 traffic turned west along Maumee Street while eastbound Bus. US 223 followed southbound M-52 down Winter to Main Street. This arrangement was ended in November 2009 when the City of Adrian converted all of the one-way streets to two-way traffic. Downtown streets had been converted to one-way traffic between 1950 and 1973.

See also

References

  • M-52 at Michigan Highways
  • Former M-92 at Michigan Highways