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US Highway 31 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that runs from the Indiana–Michigan state line at Bertrand Township north to its terminus at Interstate 75 south of Mackinaw City. Along its 355.2-mile-long (571.6 km) route, US 31 follows freeways and divided highways northward to Ludington. North of there, it is a rural undivided highway through the Northern Michigan tourist destinations of Traverse City and Petoskey before terminating south of Mackinaw City. The modern US 31 corridor has its origins in the West Michigan Pike, an auto trail from 1913 before becoming two state highways in 1919 and the single US Highway in 1926. The highway crossed the Straits of Mackinac by ferry for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s, connecting to US 2 north of St. Ignace. Later, sections were converted into freeways starting in the 1950s. These segments opened through the subsequent decades with the last one opening in 2022. Future plans by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) include a bypass of Grand Haven. (Full article...)