Portal:U.S. roads/Selected article/April 1 2012

Bikers on M-185 at mile marker 0 in downtown Mackinac Island

M-185 is a state trunkline highway in Michigan that circles the shoreline of Mackinac Island, a popular tourist destination on the Lake Huron side of the Straits of Mackinac. A narrow paved road of 8.004 miles (12.881 km), it is "the only state highway in the nation where motor vehicles are banned" according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. These restrictions on automobiles date back to the 1890s, and since the ban, only a few vehicles have been permitted on the island other than the city's emergency vehicles. In 2005, it was site of the island's only automobile accident. The highway offers scenic views of the straits that divide the Upper and the Lower peninsulas of Michigan and Lakes Huron and Michigan. It is disconnected from other state trunkline highways—as it is on an island—and is accessible only by passenger ferry. M-185 passes by several key sites within Mackinac Island State Park and has been recommended as a tourist destination for disabled veterans as well as photographers. The highway was built during the first decade of the 20th century by the state and designated as a state highway in 1933. The road was paved in the 1950s, and portions were rebuilt to deal with shoreline erosion in the 1980s.

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