List of Interstate Highways in Michigan

MDOT is the agency responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and operations of the State Trunkline Highway System, which includes the Interstate Highways in Michigan. These highways are built to Interstate Highway standards,^[6] meaning they are all freeways with minimum requirements for full control of access, design speeds of 50 to 70 miles per hour (80 to 113 km/h) depending on type of terrain, a minimum of two travel lanes in each direction, and specific widths of lanes or shoulders;^[7] exceptions from these standards have to be approved by the FHWA.^[8] The numbering scheme used to designate the Interstates was developed by AASHTO, an organization composed of the various state departments of transportation in the United States.^[9]

The Interstate Highway System covers about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) in the state and consists of four primary highways and nine auxiliary highways. There are additional 29 business routes associated with the system in Michigan. The longest segment of Interstate Highway in the state is Interstate 75 (I-75) at just under 396 miles (637 km); the shortest is I-375 at 1.1 miles (1.8 km). The length of I-75, the longest highway of any kind in the state,^[5] includes the Mackinac Bridge, which is maintained by the MBA, the only section of state highway not under MDOT jurisdiction.^[a] The Mackinac Bridge is one of three monumental bridges in the state used by I-75; the others are the Zilwaukee and International bridges. A fourth, the privately owned Ambassador Bridge connects I-75 and I-96 in Detroit to Canada.^[11]

Construction of the first expressways in Michigan predates the Interstate Highway System. During World War II, the Michigan State Highway Department (MSHD)^[b] built the Willow Run and Detroit Industrial expressways (now part of I-94) to carry workers from Detroit to the defense plants at Willow Run Airport.^[14] The state created the Michigan Turnpike Authority (MTA) in 1951,^[15] which proposed the construction of a toll freeway to run north–south in the state. The original termini for the Michigan Turnpike were Bridgeport and Rockwood.^[16] Interagency politics stalled progress on any proposed turnpikes^[17] while MSHD had three freeways under planning or construction.^[18]

The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956,^[1] and the state had already designed several freeways for its portion of that system. Seizing the opportunity brought by a 1957 state law, the department sold $700 million in bonds (equivalent to $5.81 billion in 2011^[19]) in the late 1950s and early 1960s to finance land purchases and construction of the new freeways. The goal was to connect every city with a population over 50,000 with four-lane freeways that could accommodate rural traffic traveling at 70 mph (110 km/h).^[18] The MSHD delayed numbering these freeways as part of the Interstate Highway System until the federal government had finalized the designations to be assigned to Michigan's freeways.^[20] The first highway to be signed as an Interstate in Michigan was I-75, which received signage in late 1959, along a section near the Ohio state line that opened to traffic in October 1957.^[21][22] I-94 was the first of the Interstates to be completed border to border in a US state.^[23] In 1974, the state implemented mileage-based exit numbers along the Interstates in Michigan.^[24]

The MSHD asked for 600 miles (970 km) in additions to the state's Interstate mileage in 1968. Included in these requests were the extension of the Davison Freeway (now M-8), the extension of I-69 from Marshall to Port Huron, and the conversion of the northern sections of US Highway 23 (US 23) and US 131.^[25] Of these, the I-69 proposal was approved when the United States Congress extended it to terminate in at I-75 in Flint. The highway was lengthened twice more: to I-475 in 1973 and to Port Huron on February 10, 1987.^[26] These last two extensions were classified non-chargeable mileage, or segments not financed through the Interstate Highway fund.^[27] The federal government paid 90 percent of the cost of the chargeable mileage originally approved.^[18]

The last of Michigan's Interstates to be completed was I-69, the last segment of which opened in 1992.^[28] Since then, the United States Congress has designated an additional primary Interstate, I-73 in the state. All studies by MDOT on that highway were cancelled in 2001 over funding concerns.^[29] Press reports state there is a "lack of need" for the freeway in the state,^[30] and the department has no plans to revive I-73 as of 2011.^[31]If built as designated, I-73 would cross into Michigan near Toledo, Ohio, and connect Jackson, Lansing, and Clare to I-75 at Grayling.^[32]

Number	Length (mi)[2]	Length (km)	Southern or western terminus	Northern or eastern terminus	Formed	Removed	Notes
I-69	202.317	325.598	I-69 at Kinderhook Township	Hwy. 402 at Port Huron	01967-10-111967[33]	current	Last Interstate completed in Michigan when finished in 1992;[28] segments named the Chevrolet (or Chevrolet-Buick) Freeway, or the Pearl Harbor or Purple Heart highways[34]
I-75	395.916	637.165	I-75 at Erie Township	International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie	01959-10-011959[21]	current	I-75 is the longest highway of any kind in Michigan[5] and the only highway on both of the Upper & Lower peninsulas. It is the only freeway in the Upper Peninsula and was completed in 1973.[35] Segments are named the Detroit–Toledo,[22] Fisher, Chrysler, American Legion, Prentiss M. Brown and G. Mennon Williams freeways[36]
I-94	275.398	443.210	I-94 at New Buffalo Township	Hwy. 402 at Port Huron	01959-11-011959[20]	current	First Interstate Highway completed between state borders in 1960;[23] sections named the Detroit Industrial or Edsel Ford freeways[37]
I-96	192.032	309.046	US 31 & Bus. US 31 in Norton Shores	I-75 in Detroit	01959-11-011959[20]	current	One section previously known as the Brighton–Farmington Freeway,[12] other sections named the Jeffries[38] and Rosa Parks freeways;[39] completed in 1977[12]

• Primary Interstates
• 
  I-69 approaching exit 70
• 
  Looking south along I-75 (Chrysler Freeway) at the Detroit skyline
• 
  Mackinac Bridge and I-75 over the Straits of Mackinac
• 
  I-94 at Park Road near Coloma
• 
  I-96 near its western terminus
• 
  Local-express lanes along I-96 (Jeffries Freeway)
• 
  Twin-span Blue Water Bridge carrying I-69 and I-94

Number	Length (mi)[2]	Length (km)	Southern or western terminus	Northern or eastern terminus	Formed	Removed	Notes
I-194	3.374	5.430	I-94 and M-66 in Battle Creek	M-66 in Battle Creek	01961-01-011961[40]	current	Called the Sojourner Truth Downtown Parkway,[41] or The Penetrator,[42][c] I-194 serves as a spur into downtown Battle Creek and was completed in 1966.[44]
I-196	30.073	48.398	US 31 and BS I-196/Bus. US 31 in Norton Shores	I-96 in Grand Rapids	01959-01-011959[20]	01963-01-011963[45]	Now the western end of I-96, I-196 was a spur from Grand Rapids to Muskegon completed in 1962.[46]
I-196	80.629	129.760	I-94/US 31 in Benton Township near Benton Harbor	I-96/M-37 in Grand Rapids	01963-01-011963[45]	current	The Gerald R. Ford Freeway[47] was completed in 1974[48] as a connector from Grand Rapids to I-94 in the Benton Harbor–St. Joseph area.
I-275	35.026	56.369	I-75 in Frenchtown Township near Newport	I-96, I-696 and M-5 in Novi	01974-01-011974[49]	current	Completed in 1977[50] as a partial western bypass of Detroit.
I-296	3.189	5.132	I-196 and US 131 in Grand Rapids	I-96 in Walker	01962-12-171962[51]	current	Michigan was granted approval to remove signage referring to I-296 on December 3, 1979.[52] The freeway is signed as US 131 and connects I-96 and I-196 near downtown Grand Rapids.
I-375	1.147	1.846	BS I-375 in Detroit	I-75 in Detroit	01964-06-121964[53]	current	I-375 is the southern end of the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway,[54] and as of 2007[update] it was the shortest signed Interstate in the country,[53] but I-110 in Texas has been signed since then.[55] I-375 is a spur connecting the Detroit Riverfront area to I-75.
I-475	16.866	27.143	I-75 in Grand Blanc Township	I-75/US 23 in Mount Morris Township	01973-01-011973[56]	current	Called the David Dunbar Buick Freeway,[56] or the UAW Freeway,[57] I-475 is a loop into Downtown Flint completed in 1981.[58]
I-496	11.481	18.477	I-96/I-69 in Delta Township	I-96 and US 127 in Delhi Township	01963-01-011963[59]	current	I-496 is the R. E. Olds Freeway,[60] a loop into Downtown Lansing completed in 1970[61]
I-675	7.929	12.760	I-75/US 23 in Buena Vista Township	I-75/US 23 in Zilwaukee Township	01971-01-011971[62]	current	I-675 is a loop into downtown Saginaw.
I-696	28.368	45.654	I-96/I-275 and M-5 in Novi	I-94 in St. Clair Shores	01963-01-011963[63]	current	Walter P. Reuther Freeway;[64] completed in 1989[65]
Former

• Auxiliary Interstates
• 
  I-194/M-66, the Sojourner Truth Downtown Parkway
• 
  I-196 entering downtown Grand Rapids
• 
  Looking south at the I-96/I-275 split
• 
  Unsigned I-296 from across the Grand River
• 
  Northern end of I-375 where it merges into I-75 near Gratiot Avenue in Detroit
• 
  I-496 in Lansing
• 
  I-675 crossing Schaefer Street in Saginaw
• 
  Pedestrian plazas along I-696 in Oak Park
• 
  Satellite image of the junction of I-96, I-275 and I-696

•  Michigan Highways portal

Footnotes

Works cited

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate Highways in Michigan.

• Michigan Highways
• Interstate Guide