
Why Are There So Many Different Dixie Highways Across Michigan?
Drive long enough on the roads and highways of Michigan and you'll likely eventually encounter Dixie Highway. The historic highway branches across Michigan. So why are there so many Dixie Highways in the state?
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Dixie Highway dates back to the early 1900s and includes several branches across Michigan. The highway overall once took travelers from the Great Lakes to Miami. What makes the Dixie Highway in Michigan interesting is that there were two different branches of the highway within the state.
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At its largest extent, the highway started at Sault Ste Marie and started south. After a ferry across the Straits of Mackinac, Dixie Highway split at Mackinaw City.
Dixie Highway Eastern Branch Across Michigan
One branch went along the shore of Lake Huron and south through Saginaw and Flint to Detroit and Monroe. Many roads still bear the Dixie Highway name south of Saginaw and again south of Flint to the northern Detroit suburbs. The final segment of this branch of Dixie Highway follows M-125 to the Ohio state line.
Dixie Highway Western Branch Across Michigan
The Western branch followed Lake Michigan and turned inland at Muskegon and passed through Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo before leaving the state south of Niles.
Unlike the eastern branch there is very little traces of the original Dixie Highway name in West Michigan save for a roadway named Old Dixie Highway between the hamlets of Norwood and Eastport south of Charlevoix.
Beyond Michigan, there was a 3rd branch of the northern end of Dixie Highway that began in Chicago. All branches did eventually meet up in Miami.
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