US Highway 27 (US 27) is a part of the US Highway System that now runs from Miami, Florida, to Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the US state of Michigan, it was a north–south state trunkline highway that entered the state south of Kinderhook and ended south of Grayling. Its route consisted of a freeway concurrency with Interstate 69 (I-69) from the state line north to the Lansing area before it followed its own freeway facility northward to St. Johns. From there north to Ithaca, US 27 was an expressway before continuing as a freeway to a terminus south of Grayling.

Created with the rest of the US Highway System on November 11, 1926, US 27 replaced a pair of state highways between the state line and the Cheboygan area. For a time, US 27 even extended from Cheboygan to St. Ignace over the Mackinac Bridge. The highway was converted into a series of freeways starting in the late 1950s. The northernmost section between Grayling and Mackinaw City, bypassing Cheboygan, became part of I-75, and US 27 was truncated to Grayling. Starting in the 1960s, the southern sections were included in I-69. The last section of Interstate in Michigan was completed in 1992 when I-69/US 27 opened southwest of Lansing. In the 1990s, a bypass of St. Johns north of Lansing was built, the last freeway segment of US 27 to open under that designation. On April 16, 1999, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the removal of the US 27 designation from the state of Michigan; this change was put into place when the highway number was removed from signage in 2002. Former segments of US 27 from its pre-freeway configuration are still state highways in the form of M-27 between Indian River and Cheboygan or the various business routes in the state that previously bore Business US 27 (Bus. US 27) designations.

Route description Southern Michigan I-69/US 27 in Michigan began at the Indiana state line southeast of Kinderhook, just north of an interchange with the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/I-90). From there, I-69/US 27 ran northward through a mixture of Southern Michigan farmland and woodland in Branch County. A few miles north of the state line, the freeway passes Coldwater Lake State Park and its namesake body of water; north of the lake, there is a welcome center for the northbound lanes. I-69/US 27 curved around the east side of Coldwater, connecting to the city's business loop on the south of town. The freeway intersects the northern end of the business loop immediately east of downtown at an interchange that also features US 12 (Chicago Road). A third interchange, some further north, features a distribution center for Walmart stores in the region. Further north, the freeway curves around to the northwest into Calhoun County and crosses over the St. Joseph River. I-69/US 27 turned back northward and bypassed Tekonsha to the town's west, intersecting M-60 in the process.

Curving around Nottawa Lake, I-69/US 27 continued northward through southern Calhoun County. It passed through an interchange that marked the southern terminus of M-227, a highway that runs northward into Marshall. The freeway crosses the Kalamazoo River and through an interchange with M-96 west of downtown Marshall. From that interchange northward, the BL I-94 designation was overlaid on I-69/US 27; the business loop ends at the cloverleaf interchange with I-94 northwest of Marshall. North of I-94, I-69/US 27 had one more interchange before crossing into Eaton County.

In southern Eaton County, the freeway parallels the Battle Creek River north of the junction with M-78. Near Olivet, I-69/US 27 began to turn in a northeasterly direction. As it continued in that direction, it ran to the north side of Olivet. On the south side of Charlotte, I-69/US 27 turned northward, traversing an area to the east of downtown and crossing the former routing of US 27, which is now part of the business loop for the city. Further north, the freeway has a junction with M-50, a bridge over the Battle Creek River, and an interchange with the northern end of the business loop next to Fitch H. Beach Airport. North of the airport, I-69/US 27 turned northeasterly again and paralleled Lansing Road, the former route of US 27/M-78. The freeway meets the southern end of M-100 near Potterville and continues onto the Lansing–East Lansing metropolitan area. Southwest of the state's capital city, I-69/US 27 crossed over Lansing Road near Lansing Delta Township Assembly, a factory for General Motors; northeast of the complex, I-69/US 27 merged into I-96. The combined I-96/I-69/US 27 ran northward through the suburban edges of the Lansing area, intersecting the western ends of I-496 and the BL I-69 for Lansing. The freeway enters Clinton County, and just north of a crossing of the Grand River, I-69/US 27 turned eastward to separate from I-96. As a part of the larger interchange with I-96, I-69/US 27 crossed BL I-96 (Grand River Avenue) without any connections.

Mid-Michigan to Grayling After leaving the I-96 concurrency, I-69 changes cardinal orientation and is signed as east–west from that point on. The freeway continues parallel to the Looking Glass River through suburban areas north of Capital Region International Airport. North of East Lansing, I-69/US 27 met US 127 at a cloverleaf interchange, and US 27 turned northward to separate from I-69. The US 27 freeway ran through farmland and crossed the Looking Glass River. At Price Road, US 27 met its southernmost business loop, the Bus. US 27 for St. Johns. The freeway continues due north and intersects M-21 east of town before it turns northwesterly to round the northern side of St. Johns. North of downtown, US 27 met the northern end of the business loop and the freeway ends. Continuing northward as an expressway, the highway has four lanes divided by a median with at-grade intersections at the cross roads.

In Gratiot County, US 27 was named Bagley Road. North of Wilson Road, the expressway crosses the Maple River on a causeway through a wetland area in the Maple River State Game Area. North of the river, the expressway has an interchange with M-57 then crosses a branch line of the Great Lakes Central Railroad About further north, US 27 turned to the northwest, separating from Bagley Road. The expressway transitions back to a full freeway as the trunkline turns north and curves around the east side of Ithaca, meeting the southern end of Ithaca's business loop at Center Road, and the opposite end north of town.

Further north, US 27 angled northwesterly between Alma and St. Louis. Each city has its own business loop, accessible on the south side through a pair of partial interchanges at Lincoln and State roads. The freeway crosses the Pine River before intersecting M-46 and the two business loops at another pair of interchanges north of downtown Alma. After US 27 crossed into Isabella County, it turned northwesterly near Shepherd. After a few miles, a short freeway spur carrying the Bus. US 27 for Mount Pleasant splits off and the main freeway turns back to the north. The two highways continue in parallel through town before turning to converge north of Mount Pleasant by the airport. After the freeway stub at the northern end of the business loop merges in, the main freeway crosses the Chippewa River.

US 27 continued through northern Isabella County to pass east of Rosebush. South of the Clare County line in Clare, US 27 met the southern end of Clare's Bus. US 27. The freeway turns northeasterly, crosses Bus. US 10 and the county line before merging with US 10. US 27/US 10 curved around Lake Shamrock on the northern end of town before meeting the northern end of Bus. US 27/Bus. US 10. The freeway continues north, past a welcome center in the median, and US 10 splits off to the west.

North of Clare, US 27 ran through forest, where it passed to the east of Harrison. On the east side of that town, the freeway crosses between Little Long and Sutherland lakes before meeting the northern end of the Harrison business loop. The freeway then crosses into Roscommon County. East of the community of Houghton Lake Heights and the city of Houghton Lake, US 27 intersected M-55. North of that interchange, the freeway parallels the western shore of Houghton Lake and crosses the Muskegon River. The freeway then turns a bit northeasterly toward Higgins Lake and follows that lake's western shore before crossing into Crawford County. Once across the county line, US 27 curved around to the northeast for about before terminating at I-75 south of Grayling.

History

Predecessor highways

The first major overland transportation corridors in the future state of Michigan were the Indian trails. Only one of these followed part of the path of US 27; the Mackinac Trail roughly paralleled the route of US 27 from Grayling north.

The State Trunkline Highway System was created on May 13, 1913, by an act of the Michigan Legislature; at the time, no one of the system's divisions corresponded to US 27. Division 3 followed a course from Lansing northward to an intersection with Division 2. Combined with the northernmost sections of Division 2 to the Straits of Mackinac, these highways roughly described the future route of US 27. In 1919, the Michigan State Highway Department (MSHD) signposted the highway system for the first time, and two different highways followed sections of the future US 27 corridor. The original M-29 ran from the Indiana state line north to Lansing. The second highway was M-14 from Lansing north to Cheboygan.

United States Numbered Highways era

On November 11, 1926, the United States Numbered Highway System was approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), and the new US 27 replaced M-29 from the state line northward to Lansing; from Lansing northward, US 27 replaced M-14 to Cheboygan. By the end of the next year, M-78 was extended from Charlotte along US 27 to run north and east of Lansing to a junction with M-47 near Pittsburg. In 1929, the route of US 27/M-18 was realigned south of Roscommon on the east side of Higgins Lake. The same year, another realignment moved US 27 to run due north from the Clinton–Gratiot county line to M-43 at Ithaca, and a third change rounded a corner near Shepherd in Isabella County.

When a new roadway was built in the St. Louis area in 1930, the former routing into Alma was redesignated US 27A; another US 27A was created in Shepherd around the same time. By the middle of 1936, the US 27/M-78 routing through Lansing was split into two. The mainline was restricted to cars only and moved to run along Capitol Avenue. The former routing was restricted to trucks only and designated as a truck route. By the end of the year, another realignment straightened out a series of turns from the county line northward to Wolverine in Cheboygan County. The following year, US 27 was extended to follow US 23 between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. That year, the last section of the highway was also paved southwest of Houghton Lake. In 1938, the route of US 27 on the north side of downtown Lansing was realigned on an extended Larch Street. The US 27A loop into Shepherd was removed the next year.

In the latter half of 1940, US 23 was rerouted to follow the Lake Huron shoreline northwest of Alpena; after this change was completed, US 27's concurrency with US 23 was shortened to start in downtown Cheboygan instead of south of town. Later in the decade, US 27 was rerouted to run to the west of Houghton and Higgins lakes in 1949. The next year, the truck route designation in Lansing was decommissioned when the mainline was rerouted to replace it. In the early 1950s, the highway was rerouted to the south of St. Johns, and by early 1952 a business loop was created for the city; this four-lane divided highway extended as far south as the DeWitt area. By the end of 1952, a four-lane divided highway segment opened southwest of Lansing to bypass Millett.