M-139 (Michigan highway)

This article is about the state highway in Michigan; for other uses, see M139 (disambiguation)

M-139
M-139 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length:	26.487 mi[2] (42.627 km)
Existed:	September 22, 1929[1] – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 12 near Niles
	I-94 near Benton Harbor
North end:	BL I-94 in Benton Harbor
Location
Counties:	Berrien
Highway system
Michigan State Trunkline Highway System Interstate • US • State ← M-138 M-140 →

M-139 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan, entirely within Berrien County. It was formed originally as a bypass of the Benton Harbor and St. Joseph area, but now it serves to provide access into the area from a set of bypasses consisting of Interstate 94 (I-94) and US Highway 31 (US 31).

Route description

M-139 begins at a junction with US 12 southwest of Niles in Bertrand Township, traveling northeast into downtown Niles, where it turns north. It proceeds through Berrien Springs, meeting US 31/St. Joseph Valley Parkway just to the northwest. From there the route travels northwest through Royalton Township to the community of Scottdale where it turns northward at M-63. There is a junction with I-94 at its exit 28; M-139 then passes through the community of Fair Plain and enters the eastern edge of Benton Harbor. Before terminating at Main Street in Benton Harbor, the road splits into a one-way pair just north of Empire Avenue. Northbound traffic is routed along Martin Luther King Drive while southbound traffic flows on Fair Avenue.

History

M-139 was determined as a state trunkline in 1929 from Scottdale to Benton Harbor, but the first sections were not opened until 1931. In 1964 or 1965, US 31 was rerouted along M-139 from I-94 to Scottdale, and M-139 was truncated to I-94. On August 27, 2003, the St. Joseph Valley Parkway freeway carrying US 31 was completed from northwest of Berrien Springs (exit 15) to Napier Avenue near Benton Harbor (exit 24). The former section of M-139 replaced by US 31 was once again designated M-139, with M-139 extending further along the former US 31 to the freeway's exit 15. According to the Michigan Highways site:

“

Along the portion of M-139 from I-94 southerly to Scottdale which was superseded by the US 31 designation for nearly forty years (c.1964–2003), the physical street name for the addresses for the homes and businesses along that stretch of roadway remained "M-139" even though the route number was US 31 all those years![1]

”

In 2008, M-139 was planned to extend southerly to end at Main Street (Business US 12, BUS US 12) in Niles along the unsigned state trunkline OLD US 31 and BUS US 31,^[3] but after the City of Niles announced its plan to take over maintenance of the section of East Main Street between Front Street/BUS US 31 and Fifth Street/M-51 in order to ban trucks,^[4] the plan was revised to extend M-139 further south, replacing the BUS US 12 designation southwesterly to US 12. The extension was executed on March 5, 2010,^[5][6][7] prior to route marker installation.^[8]

Major intersections

The entire highway is in Berrien County.

Location	Mile[2]	Destinations	Notes
Bertrand Township	0.000	US 12 – Sturgis, New Buffalo
Niles Township	4.730	M-140 north – Watervliet, South Haven
	6.455	Walton Road To US 31	Former BUS US 31
Oronoko Township	14.814	US 31 – Benton Harbor, South Bend
Scottdale	21.269	M-63 north – Benton Harbor
Fair Plain	23.028	I-94 – Kalamazoo, Chicago	Exit 28 on I-94
Benton Harbor	26.487	BL I-94
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Michigan Highways portal

1. ^ ^{a b} Bessert, Christopher J. (October 22, 2006). "Highways 120 through 139". Michigan Highways. http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys120-139.html#M-139. Retrieved November 23, 2006. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "MDOT Physical Reference Finder Application". Michigan Department of Transportation. 2009. http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/prfinder/. Retrieved April 29, 2010. 
3. ^ "Minutes of the Technical Advisory Committee". Niles–Buchanan–Cass Area Transportation Study, Southwest Michigan Planning Commission Metropolitan planning organization. January 22, 2008. p. 4. http://www.swmpc.org/downloads/tac_108_minutes.pdf. 
4. ^ Mumford, Lou (November 25, 2008). "Niles Plans to Reroute Trucks". South Bend Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/southbendtribune/access/1605625991.html?FMT=ABS. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 
5. ^ Contract Number 2010-0086 Effective date of transfer: March 5, 2010, Roadway segment Transferred from MDOT to the City of Niles, becoming a City Major street: US 12 Business Route (BR)/Main Street, from the centerline of Old US 31/Front Street easterly to the centerline of M-51/North Fifth Street, a distance of approximately 0.24 miles, in control section 11041.
6. ^ "US 12 BR Resurfacing in Niles to Start April 19" (Press release). Michigan Department of Transportation. April 13, 2010. http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11057-235281--,00.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 
7. ^ "MDOT Meeting to Discuss Replacement of Historic Niles Bridge" (Press release). Michigan Department of Transportation. April 22, 2010. http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11057-235846--,00.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 
8. ^ "Forum Set for Bridge Project". The Herald-Palladium (St. Joseph, MI). April 27, 2010. http://www.theh-p.com/articles/2010/04/27/local_news/1377890.txt. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 

External links

• M-139 at Michigan Highways
• M-139 at Michigan Highway Ends