U.S. Route 12

U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington to Detroit, Michigan, for almost 2,500 miles (4,000 km). As a thoroughfare, it has mostly been supplanted by I-90 and I-94, but remains an important road for local and regional travel.

The highway's western terminus is in Aberdeen, Washington at an intersection with US 101, while the highway's eastern terminus is in downtown Detroit, at the corner of Michigan and Cass avenues, near Campus Martius Park.

Route description

Washington

The western terminus of US 12 is located in Aberdeen, Washington. In the 1960s, a portion of US 12 was moved north to the town of Morton, when the Mossyrock Dam was built and flooded the towns of Kosmos and Riffe, along the Cowlitz River in Lewis County. A large portion of old, two-lane US 12 was replaced by Interstate 82 and Interstate 182 in the 1980s, between Yakima and the Tri-Cities, though the freeways are still cosigned with the US 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 Trail. The east end of the highway in the state is at Clarkston, where the highway crosses the Snake River into Idaho at Lewiston.

U.S. Route 12 in Michigan

US Highway 12 (US 12) is a US Highway that runs from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. In Michigan it runs for 210 miles (338 km) between New Buffalo and Detroit as a state trunkline highway and Pure Michigan Byway. On its western end, the highway is mostly a two-lane road that runs through the southern tier of counties roughly parallel to the Indiana state line. It forms part of the Niles Bypass, a four-lane expressway south of Niles in the southwestern part of the state, and it runs concurrently with the Interstate 94 (I-94) freeway around the south side of Ypsilanti in the southeastern. In between Coldwater and the Ann Arbor area, the highway angles northeasterly and passes the Michigan International Speedway. East of Ypsilanti, US 12 follows a divided highway routing on Michigan Avenue into Detroit, where it terminates at an intersection with Cass Avenue.

U.S. Route 12 in Idaho

US Route 12 (US 12) is a federal highway in north central Idaho. It extends 174.210 miles (280.364 km) from the Washington state line in Lewiston east to the Montana state line at Lolo Pass, generally along the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and is known as the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway It was previously known as the Lewis and Clark Highway.

Route description

US 12 enters Idaho at the Washington state line in Lewiston, Nez Perce County, crossing the Snake River at the state line. It heads east through Lewiston, turning north to cross the Clearwater River and intersect SH-128. It continues east to overlap US 95 along a limited access section. The overlapped highways run east along the north bank of the Clearwater for 7.3 miles (11.7 km), leaving Lewiston and entering the Nez Perce Indian Reservation before separating.

US 12 then continues east along the north bank of the Clearwater through North Lapwai, past the Ant and Yellowjacket rock formation and a historical marker for the Spalding Mission. It continues east to intersect SH-3 and cross the Clearwater again.