End of US highway 41
View a map showing this route.
Photo credits: Patrick Allen; Bruce Kasprzyk; Michael
Summa; Jim
Teresco; Florida DoT's photolog system
Additional research: Chris Bessert; Robert
Droz; Dan
Moraseski
| Approx. time period | North terminus | South terminus |
|---|---|---|
| 1926-1930 | Copper Harbor, MI | Naples, FL |
| 1930-1950 | (near Copper Harbor, MI) | Naples, FL |
| Approx. time period | North terminus | East terminus |
| 1950-1955 | (near Copper Harbor, MI) | Miami, FL |
| Point where signage changed from "North/South" to "East/West": | Naples, FL | |
| 1955-2000 | (near Copper Harbor, MI) | Miami Beach, FL |
| 2000-present | (near Copper Harbor, MI) | Miami, FL |
| Point where signage changes from "North/South" to "East/West": | Collier/Dade county line (FL) | |
US 41 is an original 1926 route. At first its north end was right in Copper Harbor MI, but it wasn't long before it was extended at least to Ft. Wilkins State Park, if not to its current terminus, which is about 2.5 miles east of Copper Harbor. The photo below is looking at the turnaround that marks the endpoint:
Allen, June 2009
Below is a close-up of the sign:
Teresco, July 2003
If you face the opposite direction from that photo, you'll see the first southbound US 41 sign:
Allen, June 2009
Even though that's correctly signed as "southbound" US 41, the road actually heads mostly west, but also slightly north, until the junction with M-26 in Copper Harbor, where there's another interesting sign:
Kasprzyk,
Sep. 2009
It's not often that you'll see mileages posted for cities nearly 2000 miles away, but I applaud MDoT for doing their part to help travellers understand the scope of this highway. This junction actually marks the northernmost point on US 41. Many people find this hard to believe, but this part of the Keweenaw Peninsula (including all of this northernmost segment of US 41) is actually a little further north than the northernmost point in Maine. US 41 continues by turning left here, but originally this junction marked the north beginning of US 41... and interestingly, that's where the state has posted a "Begin" sign:
Kasprzyk,
Sep. 2009
US 41 actually began over two miles ago, but maybe the intention is that this is the beginning of the designated scenic route. I'm not sure, but I think that's the same general area where the sign shown below used to be posted:
Yooper
That was from the website (gone as of last time I checked) of a guy who calls himself "Yooper" (as in the "U.P.", which is how people commonly refer to Michigan's "Upper Peninsula"). Bruce reports that particular "Miami" sign was also gone...
...but originally US 41 went only as far as Naples FL. At the time, since the Naples-to-Miami leg runs east/west, that segment was assigned an east/west number: US 94. But in 1950, US 41 was extended to Miami, replacing the US 94 designation. You can view photos from both of those endpoints on my US 94 page.
In 1955, the US 41 designation was extended another 3 or 4 miles east: across the MacArthur Causeway over Biscayne Bay to FL hwy. A1A in Miami Beach. This first shot shows its former terminus:
FDoT, 1994
That's looking east on 5th Street at Collins Avenue; FL hwy. A1A is to the left. Below, we're looking south on Collins; US 41 began to the right on 5th:
Summa, 1975
Heading that direction, the first US 41 marker looked like this:
FDoT, 1994
Dan's got more photos of the former US 1/US 41 multiplex posted on his webpage here.
In 2000 the US 41 designation was truncated back to its former terminus in downtown Miami (see my US 94 page).