text: m - 46 ( michigan highway ) m - 46 is an east – west state trunkline highway in the us state of michigan between muskegon and port sanilac , terminating near lake michigan and lake huron on each end . except for the north – south segment that corresponds with the us highway 131 ( us 131 ) freeway between cedar springs and howard city , m - 46 is practically a due east – west surface highway . the road runs through rural sections of the lower peninsula connecting several freeways including us 31 , us 131 , us 127 and i - 75 . the highway was formed by july 1 , 1919 along two discontinuous sections of its current corridor . the gap was filled in by 1927 , but a second break in the routing was created in the 1930s . this second interruption in the corridor was eliminated within a year . the various paths that m - 46 has followed have been straightened over the intervening years , producing the modern corridor by the 1970s . other changes have been made to the location of the western terminus in muskegon , but it has remained fixed in its current location since 1984 . route description m - 46 is one of three trans - peninsular highways in the lower peninsula , starting blocks away from lake michigan in muskegon and running almost to lake huron in port sanilac . the other two highways that do this are m - 55 ( manistee – tawas city ) and m - 72 ( empire – harrisville ) . the highway is maintained by the michigan department of transportation ( mdot ) like all other state trunkline highways in the state . the department tracks the traffic volumes along all state highway highways as a part of its maintenance responsibilities using a metric called average annual daily traffic ( aadt ) . this measurement is a calculation of the traffic level along a segment of roadway for any average day of the year . in 2009 , mdot figured that lowest traffic levels were the 1 , 855 vehicles used the highway daily near the eastern terminus . the peak traffic volumes were the 30 , 505 vehicles aadt along the section of m - 46 immediately east of the us 31 freeway near muskegon . the trunkline has been listed on the national highway system ( nhs ) between the western terminus and us 31 , and between cedar springs and the m - 53 junction in sanilac county . the nhs is a network of roadways important to the nation 's economy , defense , and mobility . muskegon to saginaw m - 46 starts at an intersection between muskegon and apple avenues near the downtown muskegon business district . the highway follows apple avenue eastward through the edge of the district and through a residential area in muskegon to an interchange with the us 31 freeway . on the other side of the freeway , apple avenue runs farther east , leaving the muskegon area and passing through the rural woodlands of muskegon county . along the way , the road passes the hall drain , an artificial reservoir . at casnovia , m - 37 merges in from the north at a roundabout intersection , and the two highways run concurrently across the county line into kent county , turning to the southeast . a few miles later in kent city , m - 46 turns due east again and leaves m - 37 to run independently along 17 mile road . the highway runs through more mixed agricultural land to cedar springs , where m - 46 turns north along the us 131 freeway . us 131 / m - 46 runs northwards through the northern kent and western montcalm counties for about 16 miles ( 26 km ) near sand lake and pierson . near howard city . m - 46 leaves the freeway and turns eastward independently along howard city – edmore road . the highway runs through the north side of montcalm county connecting the communities of lakeview and edmore . between six lakes and edmore , m - 66 runs along m - 46 , a distance of around 3 . 5 miles ( 5 . 6 km ) . the trunkline passes several small lakes and crosses the maple river near before crossing into gratiot county . the highway , now called monroe road crosses more farm fields as it approaches alma . north of downtown , m - 46 intersects the north – south leg of the alma business loop before meeting the us 127 freeway . east of this freeway interchange , m - 46 picks up the east – west leg of the us 127 business loop for st. louis . although similar , the separate business loop follows m - 46 along monroe road over the pine river to main street , where it turns south through downtown . m - 46 continues eastward from town through farm fields to breckenridge . at meridian road , the highway follows gratiot road into saginaw county east through merrill and hemlock to the saginaw area . east of hemlock , m - 46 meets the northern terminus of m - 52 and then the southern terminus of m - 47 in saginaw charter township near its crossing of the tittabawassee river . saginaw to port sanilac as m - 46 enters saginaw proper , it follows gratiot avenue past the saginaw country club . the area around the club is filled with residential subdivisions as the roadway approaches the saginaw river . m - 46 follows stephens street southeasterly and rust avenue eastward to cross the river . the highway continues along rust avenue to warren avenue where it turns north . the highway then follows holland avenue , which is the continuation of gratiot avenue on the east side of the river . m - 46 passes through an interchange with i - 75 / us 23 and leaves the saginaw area . the highway continues eastward through rural saginaw county into the region of the lower peninsula known as the thumb . in tuscola county , m - 46 passes through the vassar state game area and crosses the cass river north of vassar . the area near the river east to the m - 24 junction is forested . as m - 46 approaches kingston , farms dominate the landscape again . m - 46 crosses into sanilac county just west of the m - 53 junction at van dyke road . between elmer and sandusky , m - 19 follows m - 46 for about 5 miles ( 8 . 0 km ) . the highway crosses the black river near . the eastern end of m - 46 is in port sanilac , just blocks west of the city 's marina on lake huron at an intersection with m - 25 . history m - 46 was designated by july 1 , 1919 on a discontinuous route that ran between howard city and saginaw and between rural tuscola county and port sanilac . the highway followed a different routing in place than it does today . the western terminus was in downtown howard city , rather than north of town . the road ran farther south in gratiot county so that it went into downtown alma . by the end of 1927 , the michigan state highway department ( mshd ) filled in the gap between saginaw and tuscola county , and the department extended the western end to muskegon . m - 46 followed the contemporary us 131 between cedar springs and howard city and the modern routing west to muskegon ending at us 31 downtown . in the middle of the 1930s , the section north of howard city was straightened , removing the angled route between and howard city in favor of a more direct connection to us 131 . the us 131 and m - 37 concurrencies were removed , however , when the section between kent city and cedar springs was removed from the highway system . that gap was eliminated in late 1936 when m - 46 was routed down us 131 to howard city and along m - 82 to newaygo . from there , it followed m - 37 south to casnovia . a new road was opened in early 1937 between and alma , which was designated as part of m - 46 by the end of the year . the western terminus was extended farther west through muskegon to the outlet of muskegon lake on lake michigan as well . the m - 82 concurrency was removed in 1938 , and a more direct routing between six lakes and edmore opened at the same time . by the end of the 1950s , the routing through muskegon was altered . instead of terminating in the park at the outlet of muskegon lake into lake michigan , m - 46 was routed to follow us 16 to the car ferry docks . the last section of gravel highway was also paved in newaygo county near the montcalm county line . the routing of m - 46 between casnovia and howard city was altered in 1973 when the us 131 freeway was opened north of cedar springs by then - congressman gerald r. ford . m - 46 was restored to the kent city – cedar springs roadway it used in the 1930s and routed concurrently along us 131 again . in the process , m - 47 replaced a section of m - 57 that had been designated along the 17 mile road in late 1948 or early 1949 . the last change to m - 46 's routing was made in the early 1980s . the extension through muskegon to the car ferry docks was reversed , truncating the highway to its current terminus at then - bus . us 31 in 1984 . the business loop was shifted away from this location in 2007 , leaving m - 46 to terminate at a junction with a city street instead of another state highway . major intersections