Автомобильная дорога M-43 в штате Мичиган: история и современное состояние

State highway in Michigan, United States
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) maintains M 43 like all other state trunkline highways. As a part of those responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic along its roadways using a metric called average annual daily traffic. This is a calculation of the traffic levels for a roadway segment for any average day of the year. In 2009, MDOT determined that the highest traffic volume along M 43 was east of the I 96/I 69 interchange at 38,927 vehicles per day. The highest commercial traffic was west of the interchange at 645 trucks daily. The lowest volumes were at Woodland with only 1,700 vehicles and 120 trucks traveling along that section of the highway daily. Two segments of M 43 are listed on the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. The first is between Oshtemo Township and Plainwell, where M 43 runs concurrently with US 131. The second is between I 96/I 69 in Delta Township and the junction between Saginaw Street and Grand River Avenue in East Lansing.

When M 43 was first commissioned by July 1, 1919, it ran from M 17 in Kalamazoo to Hastings. It also extended north to Ionia and Stanton before turning east through Ithaca to St. Charles. In 1929, the western end was extended from Kalamazoo to South Haven, with a section still under construction. By the end of 1930, the sections of M 43 north and east of Woodbury were redesignated as parts of other highways. The Woodbury–Stanton segment was renumbered M 14, and the Stanton–St. Charles highway became M 57. In 1938, the road was extended to the east, replacing the routing of M 39 from Woodbury all the way to East Lansing where it intersected US 16 as it existed on Grand River Avenue. The next year, M 37 was realigned, which created a concurrency with M 43 in the Hasting area. When M 43 was rerouted in 1954, the new course of the highway ran concurrently with M 66 for a few miles in rural northeastern Barry County. All of the highway was completely paved in 1956 when a new routing opened northeast of Hastings, bypassing Coats Grove. The fourth change in the Barry County routing was made by the next year; the highway was rerouted due northward out of Hastings along Broadway Street. Around 1959, M 43 was shifted to bypass Grand Ledge. The former route through town was retained as a state highway, designated Bus. M 43. M 43 was extended from its eastern end in Lansing in 1962 along a section of highway that was formerly part of US 16 on Grand River Avenue; the extension to Webberville was made when the I 96 freeway opened that year. Through the Lansing area, M 43 was rerouted off Michigan Avenue downtown. This former routing was renumbered M 143. The City of Kalamazoo accepted jurisdiction of the trunklines within the city's downtown from MDOT in January 2019; M 43 was rerouted out of the city as a result, following US 131 north from Oshtemo Township to Plainwell and M 89 from Plainwell southeasterly to Richland Township. The overlap with M 89 through Richland was removed, and the section of M 43 between Kalamazoo and Richland that remained in state control was renumbered M 343. Signage reflecting these changes was erected in August 2019.

Business M 43 (Bus. M 43) was a business loop through the city of Grand Ledge. It ran east along Jefferson Street. The street curves to the southeast at a bend in the Grand River. M 100 merges in from the northeast at Bridge Street. The two highways ran concurrently south to Saginaw Highway. There, Bus. M 43 ended at the intersection with M 43 while M 100 continued south. The business loop was created when M 43 was rerouted to a new roadway southwest of downtown Grand Ledge. This roadway opened on November 14, 1959, at which time the business loop was signed along the former route in town. In 1968, Bus. M 43 was decommissioned. The section not concurrent with M 100 was turned over to local control and removed from the state trunkline highway system.