Cross-Canada Highway Once Crossed Michigan's Upper Peninsula

In the early days of highway travel, it was impossible to drive across Canada. That county's early version of the Trans-Canada Highway out of necessity included a segment that ran across Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The detour south was the only way to make a journey across the North American continent.

The 1920s era auto route that took Canadian drivers for a trip across Michigan was known as King's International Highway. The road was intended to connect Halifax in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic Ocean to Vancouver in British Columbia on the west coast.

👇🏼BELOW: Every Interstate Highway in Michigan Has Quirks - Here They Are👇🏼

However, there were no roads across Ontario on the rugged and desolate north shore of Lake Superior so Canadian drivers had two options when it came to crossing the country: either put your car on a boat for a trip from Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay across a treacherous Lake Superior, or cross into the United States at Sault Ste Marie and drive across Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Most of King's International Highway is today's US 2 from the UP's east to Ironwood in the west. After crossing through Wisconsin and Minnesota, drivers could cross back into Canada and continue the that Canadian cross country drive.

A road across Lake Superior's north shore wasn't completed until the 1960s. After that road was complete, so was the highway known as the Trans-Canada Highway. Today that road is Ontario Highway 17.

Today there is no lasting sign to the early Canadian Auto Route across Michigan. The Kings International Highway has truly faded into history.

Find out more about historic King's International Highway in the superlative book "A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan."

Every Interstate Highway in Michigan Has Quirks - Here They Are

Roads are intended to get you from here to there. And very few people think about the quirks of our interstate highway system. With being as long and as varied as it is, there is bound to be an oddity or two - and in fact, you can likely find a quirk with every interstate in Michigan. We think we have.

Gallery Credit: Eric Meier

These Michigan Highways Come to a Complete Dead End

Nearly all highways exist to connect you from one place to another. When you come to the end of the road, there's almost always somewhere else to go. Somewhere to turn. But there are parts of Michigan's highway system that don't leave you anywhere else to go - Michigan's dead end state highways.

Gallery Credit: Eric Meier

Filed Under: roads