Michigan State Highway 27
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Michigan State Highway 27, or M-27, is a short north-south highway in the extreme north of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan between Interstate 75 just north of Indian River and Cheboygan, where it meets U.S. Highway 23 near Lake Huron. It remains as a relic of the old U.S. Highway 27 which disappeared north of Grayling because Interstate 75 lies close to old US 27 between Grayling and Indian River. Michigan decommissions almost all US or state highways that any Interstate Highway supplants.
Interstate 75 takes a more direct route between Indian River and Mackinaw City, old US 27 leading through Topinabee and Cheboygan. Between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City, US 23 and US 27 coincided before 1963; US 23 remains intact. Interstate 75 angles west of due north toward Mackinaw City; US 27 (and now M-27) angles to the east toward the north.
With US 23 it is a scenic, if indirect alternative to Interstate 75 on its approach to the Mackinac Bridge.
At one time, M-27 extended through Indian River to a junction with Michigan State Route 68; it has since been scaled back to Interstate 75.