M-60 (Michigan highway)

M-60 starts at an interchange along US 12 southeast of Niles in southwestern Cass County. From this interchange, the highway runs northeasterly along the divided highway on Detroit Road to an intersection with Bus. M-60 (Yankee Road). There, the main highway turns due east along the shore of Barron Lake. The trunkline continues through mixed farm fields and woodlands, running northeastward to Cassopolis and rounding Stone Lake on the southern approach to town. M-60 runs north–south through town on Broadway Street, merging with M-62 to run concurrently into downtown Cassopolis. M-60 turns eastward on State Street, separating from M-62, and leaves town East of Cassopolis, M-60 runs past Diamond Lake and through farm fields. At Vandalia, the highway passes Donnell Lake before meeting M-40 north of Bair Lake in Jones. East of Jones, the trunkline crosses into St. Joseph County and meets US 131 on the south side of Three Rivers. The two highways run concurrently northward through a retail business corridor to an intersection with Michigan Avenue. M-60 turns east along Michigan Avenue following Bus. US 131 into downtown. The business loop turns north at the same intersection where M-60 meets M-86 near the Rocky River crossing. Continuing eastward, M-60 passes the high school and Three Rivers Municipal Dr. Haines Airport while running along the St. Joseph River. The trunkline turns north, runs by Fishers Lake and continues out of town through farm fields. Near Mendon, the highway runs along the river again. East of town, M-60 meets M-66, and the two run east and northeast through Leonidas into the extreme northwest corner of Branch County. M-60 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways. Among these responsibilities, the department tracks the level of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. This is expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic (AADT), which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. According to MDOT's surveys in 2009, the highest traffic counts were 12,547 cars and 999 trucks along the freeway immediately south of I-94 near Jackson; the lowest AADT was the 2601 cars and 384 trucks west of Union City. Only two sections of M-60 have been listed on the National Highway System (NHS): along the US 131 concurrency in Three Rivers and on the BL I-94 concurrency near Jackson. The NHS is a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. ==History==

M-60 was designated with the rest of the original state highway system by July 1, 1919, on a series of roads running between Niles and Jackson by way of Cassopolis, Three Rivers and Tekonsha. By the end of 1927, the western end was extended to terminate at US 12 at New Buffalo. In the early to mid-1930s, the Michigan State Highway Department (MSHD) realigned the New Buffalo–Niles section to bypass Galien and Buchanan, and the department extended US 112 concurrently along M-60 to New Buffalo. M-60 was rerouted around Concord in 1933, and the highway was routed around Union City in 1937. The MSHD continued to improve the highway through the end of the 1930s. The last segment between Tekonsha and Homer was paved in 1940, making all of M-60 a hard-surfaced roadway. In late 1949 or early 1950, the MSHD shifted M-60 through the Jones area to straighten the roadway. The US 131 bypass of Three Rivers opened in 1953; the US 131/M-60 concurrency became a Bus. US 131/M-60 concurrency through town as a result. On December 1, 1956, the highway department opened the first of a new four-lane divided highway around the south side of Niles, with the final of the bypass opening early the next year. Consequently, they converted the former route through town into a business loop. Bus. M-60 connected the bypass into downtown where it continued along Bus. US 112 back to US 112/M-60. At the end of the 1950s, M-60 was moved to a freeway bypass along the west side of Jackson; the final mile was also designated Bus. US 12 as both highways connected to the I-94/US 12 freeway north of the city. The western end was redesignated as a part of US 12 in the late 1961, M-60's routing has remained unchanged since. ==Major intersections==

There have been two different special routes of M-60. Business M-60 (Bus. M-60) in Niles is still in existence, while Alternate M-60 (Alt. M-60) in Concord has been decommissioned. Business M-60 Business M-60 (Bus. M-60) is a state business spur running through the city of Niles and adjacent townships. The spur starts at the intersection with M-51 (Main Street, 11th Street) and runs eastward along a former routing of M-60 on Oak Street through a residential section of town. Near the Berrien–Cass county line, the highway passes south of the Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport. East of the airport, the street name changes from Oak Street to Yankee Road, and Bus. M-60 runs to its terminus at M-60 (Detroit Road). The total length is , That route was turned over to local control the next year, decommissioning the designation. ==See also==