U.S. Route 12 Totally Explained

Everything about Us 12 totally explained

U.S. Route 12, or US 12, is an east-west United States highway running from downtown Detroit almost 2500 miles (4000 km) to Grays Harbor on the Pacific Ocean in the state of Washington. As a thoroughfare, it has mostly been supplanted by I-94 and I-90, but remains an important road for local travel.
The highway's eastern terminus is in downtown Detroit at the corner of Michigan and Cass. Its western terminus is in Aberdeen, Washington, at an intersection with U.S. Route 101.

Route description

Major cities
Aberdeen, Washington Yakima, Washington Tri-Cities, Washington Walla Walla, Washington Lewiston, Idaho Missoula, Montana Helena, Montana Miles City, Montana Aberdeen, South Dakota Willmar, Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota Eau Claire, Wisconsin Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Chicago, Illinois Gary, Indiana Detroit, Michigan

Washington

The western terminus of U.S. 12 is located in Aberdeen, Washington. In the 1960s, a portion of U.S. 12 was moved north connecting to the town of Morton, Washington when the Mossyrock dam was built and flooded the Colwitz river and the towns of Kosmos, Washington and Riffe in Lewis County. A large portion of old two-lane U.S. 12 was replaced by Interstate 82 and Interstate 182 between Yakima, Washington and the Tri-Cities, though the freeways are still cosigned with the U.S. 12 designation. The old two-lane highway now bears the name "Wine Country Road". The highway loosely follows the eastbound leg of the Lewis and Clark Expedition between Wallula, Washington and Clarkston, Washington, thus being marked as part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. The east end of the highway in the state is at Clarkston, Washington, where the highway crosses the Snake River into Idaho.
The Washington section of U.S. 12, other than a concurrency with Interstate 5, is defined at Washington Revised Code § 47.17.055.

Idaho

U.S. 12 follows the Clearwater River from Lewiston to Orofino, continuing up the middle fork of that river to Lowell, then up the Lochsa River to Lolo Pass at the Idaho/Montana border. This portion of the highway is also designated as part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Most of the highway running though the state is within the Clearwater National Forest. This section of U.S. 12 was completed in the early 1960s. East of Lowell, there are no services for 84 miles (135 km) until Lolo Hot Springs, 7 miles (11 km) into Montana.

Montana

U.S. 12 enters Montana near Lolo Hot Springs in the Lolo National Forest. After traveling east for 33 miles it meets with U.S. Route 93 at Lolo and continues as a concurrency northeast for 11 miles until it meets with Interstate 90. It then overlaps I-90 for 69 miles until Garrison. From there it heads east and becomes an express just past Elliston. Here is passes through the Helena National Forest, and then on to the capital, Helena where it junctions with Interstate 15 and U.S. Route 287. It then overlaps U.S. 287 and heads southeast toward Townsend where it splits off on its own and heads east until it meets with U.S. Route 89. It overlaps U.S. 89 for 11 miles until just past White Sulphur Springs where it continues east on its own for 233 miles until Interstate 94. The major junctions along the way are U.S. Route 191 at Harlowton and U.S. Route 87 at Roundup. At exit 93 near Forsyth U.S. 12 overlaps I-94 for 48 miles until Miles City where it again splits off on its own and heads east for 89 miles to North Dakota passing through Baker on the way.

North Dakota

U.S. 12 is a two-lane highway that runs 87.47 miles (140.8 km) through Adams, Bowman, and Slope counties in southwest North Dakota. The speed limit is 65 miles per hour on rural segments, with slower posted speeds within the cities of Marmarth, Rhame, Bowman, Scranton, and Hettinger. U.S. 12 meets with U.S. 85 in Bowman; the routes are concurrent for a short distance through the city.

South Dakota

U.S. Route 12 enters South Dakota from North Dakota as a rural two lane highway about 10 miles west/northwest of Lemmon. For approximately the next 70 miles U.S. 12 runs parallel to the border of North Dakota, sometimes within less than a mile. At Walker U.S. 12 heads southeast for 37 miles where it crosses the Missouri River at Mobridge. From there it continues east for 18 miles until it meets with U.S. Route 83 near Selby. It overlaps U.S. 83 for 7 miles, and about half of that distance it's an expressway. After leaving U.S. 83 it turns due east and spends about 80 miles as a rural two lane highway again. A few miles before reaching Aberdeen it becomes an at grade expressway. After the junction with U.S. Route 281 it goes back to being two lane for a few miles, before once again becoming a 4 lane expressway until 2 miles before Waubay. It then meets with Interstate 29 near Summit. From there it's heads southeast 22 miles until Milbank. At Milbank it turns back northeast for 10 miles until it crosses into Minnesota at Big Stone City just south of Big Stone Lake.

Legal Definition

The South Dakota section of U.S. 12 is defined at South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-4-132.

Minnesota

From the South Dakota/Minnesota state line at Ortonville, Minnesota, to Wayzata, U.S. 12 is mostly a rural two-lane highway with a 55 m.p.h. speed limit, with slower speed limits through towns and a four-lane surface arterial segment through Willmar. From western Wayzata to Interstate 394 in Minnetonka, U.S. 12 is a six-lane freeway. East of I-494, U.S. 12 is invisibly concurrent with Interstates 394 and 94 through Minneapolis and St. Paul to the Minnesota/Wisconsin state line at Hudson, Wisconsin.
A two-lane freeway/super-2 bypass through Orono and Long Lake is currently under construction, and will tie into the current freeway at Wayzata. It is expected to be completed in 2008.
The Minnesota section of U.S. 12 is defined as Routes 149, 26, and 10 in Minnesota Statutes §§ 161.115(80) and 161.114(2).

Wisconsin

From Elkhorn, Wisconsin to near the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, U.S. Route 12 is a freeway with a 65 m.p.h speed limit. It continues as a two-lane highway until it approaches the city of Whitewater, where a new bypass has been constructed. It is currently two lane, but can be expanded to four lanes. US 12 continues west to Madison, Wisconsin. As U.S. 12 nears Madison, Wisconsin, it merges with U.S. 14, U.S. 151 and U.S. 18 to form the West Beltline Highway, a four to six-lane freeway that encircles the south and west portions of the city, with a speed limit of 55 m.p.h. From Middleton, Wisconsin the highway continues on a 15 mile four-lane road completed in 2004, to cross the Wisconsin River at Sauk City, Wisconsin.

Illinois

In Illinois, U.S. Route 12 is an arterial surface road that runs from Richmond southeast to Des Plaines. It then turns due south through the Chicago metropolitan area, joining with U.S. Route 45. U.S. Route 20 joins U.S. 12/45 in Stone Park. In Hickory Hills, U.S. 45 continues south, while U.S. 12/20 runs due east in the southwest suburbs. From Hickory Hills, U.S. 12/20 runs east nearly to the Lake Michigan lakefront, and then joins with U.S. Route 41 as all three routes travel southeast into the state of Indiana.
US 12 is referred to as Rand Road in Chicago's northwest suburbs. Rand is an original name for the area around Des Plaines, Illinois, the location where the road resumes its westerly direction. South of Des Plaines, US 12 follows Mannheim Rd and then 95th St until the Indiana line.

Indiana

In Indiana, U.S. Route 12 is a historically significant route that winds along the southern coast of Lake Michigan. It runs from an interchange with the Indiana Toll Road, concurrent with U.S. Routes 20 and 41 in Whiting, to Michiana Shores at the Michigan state line. A large portion of this segment is known as the Dunes Highway.

Michigan

U.S. 12 is now the only U.S. highway route still serving downtown Detroit, whose street grid was laid by Augustus Woodward to have a five-way intersection of the roads that would become U.S. 12, U.S. 10, U.S. 16, U.S. 112, and U.S. 25. US-24 still travels through Detroit from Puritan to 8 Mile Road on the far-west-side.
As from the earliest days of its existence, US 12 enters Michigan from Indiana southwest of New Buffalo, Michigan and continues to the old junction of US 12 and US 112 in New Buffalo. It is now assigned between New Buffalo and Detroit (except through Ypsilanti) along what was US 112 until 1962.

History

Since the highway's creation in 1926, the eastern terminus has always remained within a few blocks of this point.

1926: Cadillac Square at the convergence with US-10, US-16, US-25, and US-112. US-12 goes along Grand River. The original ending was at Miles City, Montana.

1939: AASHTO approved a request to extend US-12 to Yellowstone National Park.

1956: US-12 was rerouted along the Lodge Freeway ending on Jefferson; the terminus moved four blocks southeast to the corner of Woodward Avenue (US-10) and Jefferson Avenue.

1959: Extended to Missoula, Montana.

1962: US-112 is decommissioned and its entire old route becomes US-12. US-12 now runs along Michigan avenue and again ends at Cadillac square. It was extended to Lewiston, Idaho.

1969: Extended to Aberdeen, Washington to its present terminus at US-101.

1970: US-10 is rerouted from Woodward to the Lodge Freeway and Jefferson. At this time US-12 apparently is extended along Woodward to again terminate with US-10 at Woodward and Jefferson, though with the designations flip-flopped from their 1956 routing.

2001: The City of Detroit and the Michigan Department of Transportation in a series of jurisdictional transfers moves the terminus back four blocks to again be at Cadillac Square.

2005: In another transfer, the US-12 terminus is truncated another four blocks to end at the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building on the corner of Michigan and Cass Avenue. The western terminus was gradually extended westward until it met up with the Pacific Ocean.

Former ferry crossing

In 1925, US-12 in Michigan was originally proposed to run from Detroit to Ludington, Michigan, and across Lake Michigan via car ferry to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and continue into Wisconsin on what later became US-10 in those two states. Also, US-12 originally went into Wyoming before being rerouted into Montana, and was proposed to go into Oregon, but did not.

Chicago freeway

US 12 was originally planned to be a freeway from Chicago, IL to Madison, WI. The portion from Genoa City, WI to Elkhorn, WI was already being built when the Interstate system was announced. After the Interstate program was announced, and due to that Wisconsin wasn't able to obtain some right-of-way land north of Elkhorn, construction was stopped. Since construction was stopped, Illinois never built any of it, but the rough grading and off-ramps are still there in Illinois. In Elkhorn the ramps also continue past the intersection where construction stopped but they're not used. Much of US 12 in Illinois is divided highway, but it's surface road.

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