text: m - 142 ( michigan highway ) m - 142 is a state trunkline highway in the thumb region of the us state of michigan . it is a " trans - peninsular " highway in that it travels through an agricultural area from bay port on saginaw bay to harbor beach on lake huron . the current trunkline in huron county was originally parts of other state highways that date back to the initial 1919 signposting of the state highway system in the state . the designation was applied in 1939 , and the road has remained unchanged since it was completely paved in the 1950s . one other highway , near lake city , carried the number in the 1930s . route description m - 142 begins just a few miles south of bay port at an intersection with m - 25 near the bay port cemetery , about two - thirds of a mile ( 1 . 1 km ) inland from saginaw bay . from there , the road travels eastward through farm country on pigeon road . the highway follows a direct course over the pigeon river to the village of pigeon , when m - 142 turns south on main street to exit town . south of town , the pigeon road name resumes , and after about one mile ( 1 . 6 km ) , m - 142 turns back eastward near the grand lawn cemetery . the road then continues eastward through more farms to elkton , diverting off a direct course to cross a line of the huron and eastern railway on the east side of town . north of bad axe , m - 142 leaves pigeon road to turn southward along van dyke road for about mile and a half ( 2 . 4 km ) . along this section , the highway runs concurrently with m - 53 into town . at the intersection with huron avenue , m - 142 turns east and m - 53 turns west , ending the overlap of the two highways . m - 142 exits town and follows sand beach road through farm country . about three miles ( 4 . 8 km ) of bad axe , m - 142 meets the northern terminus of m - 19 ( road ) . continuing eastward , the highway crosses two branches of the willow river as it passes through the unincorporated community of verona . east of that location , the trunkline turns northeasterly , roughly parallel to the rock falls creek , as it angles to harbor beach . m - 142 follows state street through town , and the trunkline terminates at the intersection with m - 25 about a quarter mile ( 0 . 4 km ) west of lake huron . like other state highways in michigan , m - 142 is maintained by the michigan department of transportation ( mdot ) . in 2011 , the department 's traffic surveys showed that on average , 8 , 887 vehicles used the highway daily in the city of bad axe east of m - 53 and 832 vehicles did so each day between m - 25 and pigeon , the highest and lowest counts along the highway , respectively . no section of m - 142 is listed on the national highway system , a network of roads important to the country 's economy , defense , and mobility . history previous designation the first highway to gain the m - 142 moniker was designated by the end of 1929 running eastward from m - 55 / m - 66 to a farm owned by michigan state college ( now michigan state university ) south of lake city . by 1939 , this one - mile ( 1 . 6 km ) highway was transferred back to local control . current highway when the state highway system was first signed in 1919 , one of the original trunklines was numbered m - 31 , originally running northward from port huron to harbor beach and then westward to saginaw . when the u.s. highway system was approved on november 11 , 1926 , m - 31 was decommissioned in favor of alternate numbers . the roadway between bay port and harbor beach was assigned the m - 83 designation ; between bay port and bad axe , the highway was also a part of the contemporary m - 29 . by 1933 , the m - 29 designation was removed when that highway was realigned to follow the saginaw bay shoreline and later became parts of an extended us highway 25 and a new m - 25 . in 1939 , a section of m - 83 was returned to local control , which would have resulted in a discontinuous routing . segments of the trunkline were absorbed into other existing highways . the former routing of m - 83 from bay port , eastward across the thumb , to harbor beach where it met up with us 25 was redesignated m - 142 . by early 1952 , the last section of the highway was paved , stretching about three miles ( 4 . 8 km ) eastward from the m - 19 state highway department ( april 15 , 1952 ) . 1952 official highway map ( map ) . the highway has been unchanged since . major intersections the entire highway is in huron county .