USBR 35

There was an article in this month's Adventure Cycling in which the author rides US Bicycle Route 35 from Traverse City to Indiana or so. Most of the article was fairly mundane bike-travelogue (with not nearly enough nice things said about Empire), but what got my attention was his comment that he couldn't believe the stretch of M-22 south of Leland was part of the route. Amen. As I have commented before, that stretch is downright dangerous. To put unsuspecting bike tourists on a road that is that narrow, windy, rough, and busy is almost criminal, and it makes me suspect that the rest of the US bicycle routes can't be trusted. USBR 35 on US-31 north of Elk Rapids is another dangerous stretch.

I understand that the creators of the route had no choice of roads in those dangerous spots (even though there are beautiful quiet alternate routes they could have chosen). But in such a case, they simply should have left those stretches of road off the route. One of the hardest things about bike touring is picking safe routes. When we're not from somewhere, we have no way of knowing about road conditions or traffic. Some state highways are beautiful and safe, and some small county roads are congested and dangerous. It's impossible to know. We rely on route guides to choose the right roads. It's a pity when those route guides let us down.

Update, Feb 2017:
At last! MDOT has announced that they are finally fixing the bicyclist death trap on M-22 south of Leland! The road repairs, which will include a rideable shoulder, will happen next summer. About time.