This collection represents materials gathered by Leroy Barnett for his book, A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal highways of Michigan, published by Priscilla Press in 2004. The documents included in this accession were mainly derived from statute books, legislative journals, government records, transportation periodicals, newspapers, and period cartographic materials.
The contents of each folder include brief histories for each trunk line that bears a name and number. These histories formed the basis of A Drive Down Memory Lane. A very small part of the information contained in this collection was not used in the book, as the material related to highways that ultimately did not fall within the purview of the study.
Nearly all improved roads in Michigan are numbered highways. These identifying digits are assigned by the federal government (thus carrying a US- or I- prefix), the state government (carrying an M- prefix), or a county government (bearing a C- prefix or a high three-digit number.)
Despite the simplicity and efficiency of numerical designations, many of these primary roads –known today mainly by their ciphers—also have been assigned names. These monikers may have been bestowed a century or more ago or in more recent times, and they may be well-known (like the Lodge Freeway) or totally alien to present-day motorists.
Given the fact that no source had tried to track down the names given to Michigan’s numbered state and federal highways, Lee Barnett sought to ascertain all the titles that have been assigned to these roads over the years. The results of this search comprise this collection.
