M-21 (Michigan highway)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| M-21 |
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| Length: | 99.75 mi[1] (160.53 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1920 | ||||||||
| West end: |   M-37/M-44 in Grand Rapids |
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| Major junctions: |
 M-66 in Ionia |
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| East end: |  I-475 in Flint |
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M-21 is an east-west highway in the U.S. state of Michigan connecting the cities of Grand Rapids and Flint. Although it is the shortest route between those two cities, the slightly-longer pair of east-west I-96 and Interstate 69 supplant it as an intercity route. All of it, except for some segments just outside of Grand Rapids and Flint, is undivided surface road. None of M-21 is freeway.
The western terminus is at M-37 on the east side of greater Grand Rapids. The eastern terminus is at exit 7 off Interstate 475 just north of Interstate 69 in Flint. M-21 passes through Ada, Lowell, Ionia, St. Johns, and Owosso.
Before the Interstate era, M-21 extended across the entire lower peninsula of Michigan, from the junction with US 31 in Holland, Michigan near Lake Michigan east to the St. Clair River at Port Huron, Michigan, and crossed into Canada where the Blue Water Bridge is currently located.
Due to the size and industrial importance of some of the cities through which it was built, it was a major highway. M-21 was truncated at both of its current termini as the two Interstate freeways were completed. I-196 replaced M-21 between Holland and Grand Rapids. I-69, signed anomalously as an east-west route, replaced M-21 from Flint to Port Huron.
