M-6 (Michigan highway)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||||||||
| South Beltline Freeway |
|||||||||
| Paul B. Henry Freeway | |||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Length: | 19.71 mi[1] (31.72 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formed: | Current route, 1997[1] | ||||||||
| West end: |  I-196 near Jenison |
||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 US 131 in Cutlerville |
||||||||
| East end: |  I-96 near Cascade |
||||||||
| Counties: | Ottawa & Kent | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
M-6, or Paul B. Henry Freeway, is a 20 mile (32 km) long freeway serving the southern portions of Kent County, Michigan. Many locals still refer to it by its original designation South Beltline.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The highway connects I-96 on the east with I-196 in the west along a corridor running south of Grand Rapids. Construction on the highway began in November 1997 and was scheduled to be completed in 2008. The first phase, stretching five miles from I-96 to M-37 opened to traffic on November 21, 2001, six months ahead of schedule. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on November 17, 2004 to open the remaining freeway, completed four years ahead of schedule. The completed highway runs approximately 20 miles.
It runs through the following townships:
[edit] Exits
(only the western terminus and exit 1 are in Ottawa County. The rest are in Kent County)
- Exit 1: 8th Avenue
- Exit 3: Wilson Avenue
- Exit 5: Byron Center Avenue
- Exit 8: US 131 south of Wyoming, Michigan
- Exit 11: Kalamazoo Avenue in Gaines Township
- Exit 15: Broadmoor Avenue (also known as M-37)
[edit] Notes and Trivia
- While under construction the highway was referred to as the Grand Rapids South Beltline or simply the South Beltline Freeway. On June 2, 1998, the Michigan Legislature voted to name it the Paul B. Henry Freeway after Paul B. Henry, a popular politician from West Michigan who died in 1993.
- Although M-6 is numbered as a Michigan state highway, the freeway was constructed to full Interstate standards.
- Hence, there is some speculation that the highway may be re-designated as I-296. However I-296 is actually already internally assigned as an unsigned 3.4 mile segment of US 131 between I-96 to I-196. Further dampening this possibility is the fact that the Michigan Department of Transportation has a long history of constructing and maintaining freeways outside of the Interstate highway system.
- The highway was completely planned and constructed using the metric system, a first in the State of Michigan.[citation needed] However, MDOT has now stopped using the metric system for any new designs.[citation needed]
[edit] Construction facts
- 17,350,000 pounds of structural steel were used in the construction of M-6, equal to the weight of 30 Empire State Buildings.
- 682,400 feet of piling were used. If laid end to end, they would stretch 129 miles from Grand Rapids to Traverse City.
- The bridges required 124,300 cubic yards (95,000 m³) of concrete-enough to build a column 3 feet in diameter to a height of 90 miles.
- 10,220,000 cubic yards (7,800,000 m³) of dirt were excavated. This would fill Michigan Stadium 40 times.
- 225 acres of wetlands were created, the size of two 18 hole golf courses.
- 8,000 tons of steel were used in bridge construction, equivalent to the weight of 266 railroad freight cars loaded with steel.
[edit] Earlier M-6 designations
The first appearance of M-6 was in 1926 as a two-mile road in Keweenaw County running from US 41 at Phoenix to north to Eagle River. In 1938, the route was redesignated as M-111 and was again redesignated 2 years later to become a part of the route of M-26.
In the 1970s, M-6 was the designation for the service roads built during the second phase of construction of the I-696/Walter P. Reuther Freeway in southern Macomb and southeast Oakland counties, from the junction with I-75 east to I-94. The signage for M-6 was removed upon completion of that segment of I-696 in 1979. The service drives are now named 10 Mile Road in Oakland County and 11 Mile Road in Macomb County.
