US 20 and McKinley Avenue: the second east–west line

1926–1998 · THE THROUGH HIGHWAY ON THE NORTH SIDE

The numbered system gave Mishawaka two east–west highways, and kept them on different streets: US 20 was signed in Indiana from 1926. The road record carries its early signing on the Lincolnway line between South Bend and Elkhart — "US 20 was once signed along Indiana 2 west of South Bend and Indiana 933/old US 33 between South Bend and Elkhart" — but the highway's mature Mishawaka course, the one the rest of the record is built around, was the north-side line: McKinley Avenue. The junctions fix it. The old State Road 331, coming up Main Street from the south, ended at US 20 at the intersection of McKinley Avenue and Main Street — the route record states the junction in those terms. State Road 219 ran along the St. Joseph–Elkhart county line from former US 33 — Lincolnway — north to former US 20, a one-road ladder between the two highways on Bittersweet Road's line, until the state turned it over to St. Joseph County on 21 May 1999. And east of the county line the same pavement continues into Elkhart as Old US 20, known there as Toledo Road — the Vistula Road's destination carried in a street name on US 20's old line. This build's Hotels section states the succession in the city's own terms: the Milburn stood on the Lincolnway line, and "the McKinley corridor carried the eastbound traffic of the next generation."

The demotion: In 1998 the completed St. Joseph Valley Parkway took US 20 around the south side, and the downtown route through the two cities was decommissioned — the event this build's Transit section dates against the parkway's Indiana completion of 1992, both printed there. What the old road became is a business route with a quirk the road record notes precisely: Business US 20 is posted in St. Joseph County along the old route, but the signs posted outside of South Bend and Mishawaka lack the "BUSINESS" indication — through the county ground east of this city, the old highway still signs itself, plainly, US 20. McKinley Avenue today is that business route and something more: the corridor the through highway made, carrying the first of the city's shopping centers — Town & Country, "the McKinley corridor's first center" in this build's Malls record, and the Kmart plaza at McKinley Commons — on the pavement the highway era built. The centers are Malls' whole; the corridor is this section's: McKinley is the street US 20 chose, and the retail followed the choice.

Sources:

1. The metropolitan route record (Roadfan, "Routes in South Bend and Metro Northern Indiana," compiled from INDOT releases) — US 20's early signing on the Indiana 933/old US 33 line between South Bend and Elkhart; old SR 331's end at "US 20 (intersection of McKinley Avenue and Main Street)"; Business US 20 posted in St. Joseph County with signs outside the cities lacking the BUSINESS indication; SR 219's county-line course from former US 33 to former US 20 and its turnover to the county on 21 May 1999, per the INDOT release the record cites.
2. Wikipedia, "U.S. Route 20 in Indiana" — US 20 signed from 1926; the through downtown course until the parkway, decommissioned 1998; the peak AADT on the SR 331 concurrency.
3. AARoads, St. Joseph Valley Parkway guide — Old US 20 as Toledo Road at the County Road 17 interchange, following the original routing into downtown Elkhart.
4. This build's Hotels and Malls sections — the McKinley corridor carrying "the eastbound traffic of the next generation"; Town & Country as the corridor's first center and McKinley Commons, at anchor.