H-58 (Michigan county highway)

Infobox road
state=MI
type=CDH
route=H-58


maint=Alger County Road Commission and Luce County Road Commission
length_mi=69.1
length_round=1
length_ref=
alternate_name=
established=
direction_a=West
terminus_a=jct|state=MI|M|28 in Munising
junction=jct|state=MI|M|77 in Grand Marais
direction_b=East
terminus_b=
previous_type=CDH
previous_route=H-57
next_type=CDH
next_route=H-60

County Designated Highway H-58 is a road that runs east-west in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. H-58 is routed through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Along H-58, there are the towns of Melstrand, Van Meer, and Myren. The length is convert|69.1|mi|km|1|lk=on.The western terminus is at M-28 in downtown Munising, Alger County, Michigan. The eastern terminus is at H-37 in Muskallonge Lake State Park, Deer Park, Luce County, Michigan.

Route description

H-58 starts in Munising as the east end of Munising Street at an intersection with M-28. From the western terminus of the highway, H-58 passes out of town by the Neenah Paper Mill.cite web|publisher=Manta| title=Paper Mills in MIchigan (MI) |url=http://www.manta.com/mb_45_E026D000_23/paper_mills/michigan |accessdate=2008-04-05] . Leaving town, H-58 becomes Munising-Van Meer-Shingleton Road and enters the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The PRNL Visitors Center is located off Sand Point Road at the west end of the park. This visitors center stays open year round. Farther along H-58 is H-11/Miners Castle Road. This road provides access to Miners Castle, a natural rock formation located on the shores of Lake Superior, and the Miners Falls. Farther along, H-58 meets H-15 in Van Meer, home of the Bear Trap Inn and Bar. Munising-Van Meer-Shingleton Road turns south along H-15 and H-58 turns northeast along Melstrand Road to the community of Melstrand.cite book |title=Country Roads of Michigan: Drives, Day Trips, and Weekend Excursions |last=Scharfenberg |first=Doris |year=1999 |edition=Third Edition |publisher=Country Roads Press |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=1-56626-119-8 |pages=pp.117–124| chapter=Along the North Rim (H-58) ]

Melstrand is located outside of the national park boundaries in the Lake Superior State Forest. H-58 continues through "burned and cut areas, meadows, maturing second growth, and the haunting sounds of silence… if you stop the car and listen." Farther along, H-58 reenters the park boundaries and approaches more Pictured Rocks facilities like the Hurricane River Campground, home to all the necessary camping facilities. The road through here is gravel and being paved approaching the Log Slide. The Log Slide gives motorists a chance to hike down to the lakeshore to see the Au Sable Point Lighthouse peeking above the trees to the east and the Grand Sable Dunes to the west along the lake. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and can be accessed from the Hurricane River Campground. West of Grand Marais H-58 is paved again and approaches the Woodland Township Park. Here hikers can walk along the beach to the base of the Grand Sable Dunes that form the east end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. These dunes reach heights of up to convert|275|ft|m|0 at a 35° incline. Hikers are advised to use the access points along H-58 to get to the dunes instead of attempting the climb up the face.

H-58 meets M-77 in the community of Grand Marais. Grand Marais is home to a small harbor that was once the home of a lumber shipping port. Grand Marais was the location of thirty saloons, boarding houses, a dozen hotels, two newspapers, the Alger–Smith sawmill and a train taking passengers to Marquette. A site of interest in Grand Marais is the Earl of Sandwich Shop next to the harbor downtown. Here visitors can enjoy fresh-made ice cream hand-dipped into waffle cones. Grand Marais is the east end of both the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Alger County.

H-58 follows a gravel roadway through the forested northwest corner of Luce County.The east end of H-58 is at Muskallonge Lake State Park in the unincorporated community of Deer Park, north of Newberry Here H-58 meets H-37. Deer Park is the location of a trio of resorts and remnants of a community that once included a sawmill, hotel and store. The park hosts 71,000 visitors a year.

History

H-58 is the main access road for the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Since 2004-05, signage along the route has been greatly improved by the Alger County Road Commission. Portions of the road are paved while the majority of the road's length in Alger County and all of the road's length in Luce County is gravel.cite map |publisher= Michigan Department of Transportation |title=Official 2008 Department of Transportation Map |url=http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9622_11033_11151---,00.html |year=2008|scale=1 in:15 mi/1 cm:9 km |section= C7-C8 |accessdate=2008-04-09 ]

Future

The Alger County Road Commission has a five-stage plan to pave the remaining sections of the road between Melstrand and Grand Marais utilizing National Park Service funding. According to a 2006-07-13 story in the Marquette "Mining Journal", "The horizontal alignment of the road will be changed in most places and some of the extremely tight curves will be straightened out. The road will be designed for travel speeds of convert|40|mph|0|abbr=on to maintain the nature of the road and the park setting."cite news| publisher=Mining Journal |title=H-58 to be paved |url=http://www.miningjournal.net |date=2006-07-13 |accessdate=2007-03-04] The projected completion date is in 2010.cite web | author= Bessert, Christopher J. | title=Michigan Highways: County-Designated H-16 through H-63 | date=2007-01-02 | work=Michigan Highways | url= http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwysH16-H63.html#H-58 | accessdate=2007-03-04 ] Funding on the paving project between Buck Hill and the boundary of the national park is being held up pending passage of a technical corrections bill by the US Senate. The original funding authorization specified that sections were being repaved. Instead they are being paved for the first time or realigned.cite news | author=Pepin, John |publisher= Mining Journal |title=Bump in the road? |url=http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/503941.html?nav=5006 |dated=2008-01-05 |accessdate=2008-04-09] A bill, HR 1195, is being considered in the Senate to clear up this appropriation error to clear the funding.cite web |url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1195 |title=H.R. 1195 Text of Legislation |publisher=GovTrack |date=2007-02-27 |accessdate=2008-04-09]

Major intersections

MIint
county=Alger
cspan=5
location=Munising
mile=0.0
road=
street=Cedar Street
notes=MIint
location=Munising Township
lspan=2
mile=2.1
road=
street=Connors Road
notes=MIint
mile=5.3
road=
street=Miners Castle Road
notes=MIint
location=Van Meer
mile=9.2
road=
street=Munising-Van Meer-Shingleton Road
notes=MIint
location=Grand Marais
mile=49.6
road=
street=Lake Avenue
notes=Just south of M-77 northern terminus; H-58 exit the Pictured Rocks National LakeshoreMIint
county=Luce
location=Deer Park
mile=69.1
road=
street=CR 407
notes=

References

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/piro/planyourvisit/roadconstruction.htm Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Road Construction page] (H-58)