; M-35 was not initially included. The system was signposted six year later, and M-35 was to run from
M-12/
M-15 (modern US 2/US 41) at
Gladstone in the south to
Palmer before terminating in
Negaunee at M-15 (modern US 41). Several maps showed M-35 continuing north to L'Anse. By 1930, M-35 was extended southerly along US 2/US 41 from Gladstone to Escanaba. From there, M-35 continued as a new highway along the
Green Bay shoreline to Cedar River and supplanted M-91.
Huron Mountains In 1919, the State Department of Highways, forerunner to today's MDOT, designated a scenic shoreline trunkline to run north from Negaunee to
Skanee and
L'Anse by way of
Big Bay. The highway would continue from the L'Anse and
Baraga area to eventually end at
Ontonagon at an intersection with
M-64. This highway was designated as an extension of M-35, which ended in downtown Negaunee. Work was completed on a significant portion of the route in
Marquette County by 1926. M-35 was routed east along M-15 toward
Marquette before turning north-northwesterly toward Big Bay. This section of roadway follows the modern
County Road 510 (CR 510) in Marquette County. Similar work was completed in
Baraga County connecting L'Anse and Skanee by 1932. One section running northwesterly from the modern CR 510 toward the
Salmon Trout River, complete with guard rails and cement culverts
The Steel Bridge One of the first tasks for the State Highway Department was bridging the Dead River in Negaunee Township, north of US 41. The state solved the problem by buying a bridge in Pennsylvania, where bridges of this design were more common. The Marquette County Road Commission had announced plans in 2006 to bypass the Steel Bridge with a modern replacement, leaving the existing bridge as a footpath or bike path. Construction on the bypass road and replacement bridge was begun in October 2007. The concrete work for the replacement span was started in late 2009, with an original projected completion date of November 1, 2010. The new crossing is above river level compared to the for the 1921 span. The total budget for bridge construction was $4.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) with an additional $1.7 million (equivalent to $ in ) for the approach work; the project had an 80 percent federal, 15 percent state and 5 percent county funding split. The new bridge opened to traffic in September 2010, diverting traffic from the Steel Bridge. Completion of the new span came after about a decade of planning.
Henry Ford Records of the
Huron Mountain Club, an exclusive private organization with large land holdings in northern Michigan, show that Henry Ford visited the Upper Peninsula many times, including at least once with
Harvey Firestone and
Thomas Edison on Ford's yacht,
Sialia. Many of these trips involved research to keep his operations supplied. His UP land provided wood for the manufacture of Ford automobiles such as the
Model T, which required of lumber per car. Constructed portions were turned over to local control, becoming Skanee Road in Baraga County and CR 510 in Marquette County. This left a discontinuous routing for 13 years. The southern segment of M-35 ran from Menominee to Negaunee, and the northern segment ran from Baraga to Ontonagon along the modern
M-38. The two segments were rejoined in 1953, closing the gap left by the cancelled Huron Mountain route. M-35 signs were added to existing highway signs westward from the end of the southern segment at Negaunee along US 41/M-28 and US 41 to Baraga, to connect with the northern segment westward to Ontonagon. In 1964, several abandoned underground mine shafts collapsed underneath the roadway, forcing a rerouting of M-35 out of the City of Negaunee. Before the rerouting, M-35 was routed from Palmer north to Negaunee using a portion of County Road near Lucy Hill. It also followed Silver Street connecting with part of
Business M-28, a business loop of M-28, through downtown Negaunee to US 41 north of town. This former segment is still shown on some maps (such as
Google Maps) as "Old M-35". Since this rerouting, M-35 runs from Palmer past Goose Lake to end in
Negaunee Township. The only
naturbahn, or natural track,
luge run in North America crosses the former routing of M-35 in Negaunee. This luge run crosses over the abandoned street at the end of County Road at Lucy Hill. Since then, sections of the roadway were realigned in
Richmond Township south of Palmer to straighten some of the many curves between Palmer and Gwinn in 1989. MDOT constructed a new 20-space commuter parking lot at the southern terminus of M-553 at M-35 in August 2008 as part of an effort to offer expanded ride-sharing opportunities in Marquette County. ==Tourist routes==