The trunkline provides a marked route for traffic diverting from U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) and M-28 through the two historic iron-mining communities.

Before the 1930s, the main highways ran through the two downtown areas when US 41/M-28 was relocated to run near Teal Lake.

A rerouting in 1999 moved the trunkline designation along Lakeshore Drive in Ishpeming, and a streetscape project rebuilt the road in Negaunee in 2005.

M-28 begins at a signalized intersection on US 41/M-28 and the Lake Superior Circle Tour (LSCT) with Lakeshore Drive in the city of Ishpeming.

On the east side of downtown, both the central machine shops and the research labs for Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company are located on Division Street.

Continuing east, the trunkline follows Ready Street over hills and through a residential area to the Ishpeming–Negaunee city line.

[4][11] In Negaunee, the routing uses a street named County Road east from the city line.

County Road passes Jackson Park, location of the first iron ore discovery in the area.

Turning north, the trunkline follows Teal Lake Avenue through residential areas of town past the Negaunee Middle School and up over a hill.

On the opposite side of the hill next to Teal Lake Bluff, the business loop intersects Arch Street, which carries traffic to Negaunee High School to the west or the football field complex to the east.

[1] The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) publishes traffic data for the highways it maintains.

On Lakeshore Drive in Ishpeming, MDOT stated that 5,619 vehicles on average used the roadway daily in 2019.

[24] The main highway was moved with the construction of a northerly bypass of Ishpeming and Negaunee in 1937.

[29] This dual designation later was mirrored by the other Marquette County business route, Bus.

Construction of the Empire Mine in 1963 necessitated the relocation of the highway from Palmer to Negaunee.

Action on the request was deferred by AASHTO's U.S. Route Numbering Subcommittee,[37] and then denied the following year.

[40] MDOT in a partnership with the City of Negaunee upgraded Teal Lake Avenue between Arch and Rock streets in a streetscaping project to provide a "pedestrian refuge area".