State Road 520 is a four-lane connector about 1,000 feet (305 m) in length. It exists solely to connect U.S. Route 12

U.S. Route 12

U.S. Route 12 or US 12 is an east–west United States highway, running from Grays Harbor on the Pacific Ocean, in the state of Washington, to downtown Detroit, for almost . As a thoroughfare, it has mostly been supplanted by I-90 and I-94, but remains an important road for local travel.The...

 and U.S. Route 20

U.S. Route 20

U.S. Route 20 is an east–west United States highway. As the "0" in its route number implies, US 20 is a coast-to-coast route. Spanning , it is the longest road in the United States, and the route sparsely parallels Interstate 90...

 in Pines

Town of Pines, Indiana

Town of Pines is a town in Pine Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 708 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Town of Pines is located at ....

, about 3 miles (5 km) west of Michigan City

Michigan City, Indiana

Michigan City's origins date to 1830, when the land for the city was first purchased by Isaac C. Elston. Elston Middle School, formerly Elston High School, located at 317 Detroit St., is named after the founder....

. U.S. 12 and U.S. 20 do not cross at this point — they parallel each other for another 22 miles (35 km) westbound and overlap in Gary

Gary, Indiana

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

; U.S. 20 is generally considered the faster of the two, while U.S. 12 is the scenic Dunes Highway. Eastbound, U.S. 12 travels through Michigan City and northeast into Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 where it forks east from the Red Arrow Highway. U.S. 20 stays in Indiana and runs around Michigan City as a bypass to the south.

State Road 520 is the shortest designated highway in the State of Indiana.

Route description

State Road 520 begins at a 3-way intersection with U.S. Route 20. The road is locally known as Maple Street and is an undivided four-lane road for its entire length. It heads north from this intersection and soon reaches another 3-way intersection with a local road known as Pine Street. A motel

Motel

A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...

 is located at the intersection across from Pine Street. SR 520 passes under a directional sign at its halfway point. The road passes by a fire station

Fire station

A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...

before it meets US 12 at another 3-way intersection. There are a total of eight houses on SR 520, plus a storage facility near the US 20 interchange. Several houses also have driveways on the road.

Major intersections