
The Forgotten Cross-State Highway Through West Michigan – Old M-21 Explained
There's a short stretch of road in West Michigan that hides the history of a former cross-state route. That roadway is Old M-21 in Jenison.
Running just 1000 feel from Main Street to a dead-end at the Grand River, this stub of a road was once part of an important highway stretching from Holland to Port Huron.
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Grand Rapids area drivers are likely familiar with M-21. The highway today begins at East Beltline near I-96 on the metro's east side and takes Fulton Avenue towards Ada. Modern day M-21 cruises exactly 100 miles (99.3 if you're being pedantic) to downtown Flint. Along the way it passes through Lowell, Ionia, St Johns and Owasso.
The highway dates back to the 1920s and had been shorted over the years at it was superseded by freeway construction - I-69 between Flint and Port Huron and I-196 between Grand Rapids and Holland. M-21 was served a major role in the pre-interstate highway days as it was rounted into downtown via Fulton from the east and exited along Chicago Drive towards the lakeshore.
At its fullest historic extent, M-21 ran roughly 200 miles from coast to coast, one of the few 'trans-peninsular' highways in Michigan. A similar highway to cross the state in the same fashion is in the next tier of counties to the north, M-46 still runs the length of the state from Muskegon to Port Sanilac via Saginaw.
There is a more visible remnant of M-21's former routing. M-121/Chicago Drive between Grandville and Zeeland is also the former M-21.
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As Chicago Drive was routed to meet I-196, that gave Jenison the stubby Old M-21 which serves a few business on the now quiet cul-de-sac. Old M-21 runs just a block north of modern M-121/Chicago Drive.
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