Interstate 296

Interstate 296 (I-296) is a part of the Interstate Highway System in the US state of Michigan. It is a state trunkline highway that runs for 3.43 miles (5.52 km) entirely within the Grand Rapids area. Its termini are I-96 on the north side of Grand Rapids in Walker and I-196 near downtown Grand Rapids. The entire length is concurrent with U.S. Highway 131 (US 131), which continues as a freeway built to interstate standards north and south of the shorter Interstate. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has eliminated all signage for I-296 and removed the designation from their officially published state map. The designation is therefore unsigned, but still listed on the Federal Highway Administration's route log for the Interstate Highway System.

Route description

I-296 begins at the I-196 interchange west of the Grand River and downtown Grand Rapids. Here the three northbound lanes are on the left and the three southbound lanes are on the right, opposite of the normal traffic arrangement in the US. This arrangement is reversed north of the ramps for I-196 as the southbound lanes go over the northbound lanes. Running parallel to the Grand River on the west bank, the freeway designation begins across the river from the 6th Street Bridge Park and Belknap Hill north of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and the DeVos Place Convention Center. The west side of the freeway faces residential neighborhoods and the east side borders commercial businesses and the river. South of the Ann Street interchange, the highway crosses a rail line. After crossing both the railroad and Ann Street, the highway widens to allow for a grassy median. The freeway leaves Grand Rapids an enters Walker north of Ann Street.^[3][4]

Approaching I-96 from the south, the freeway runs to the east of the DeltaPlex Arena and the median widens further across the river from Comstock Riverside Park in Walker. An extra lane is added on the left, widening the freeway to four lanes. Unsigned I-296 follows the left two lanes that form the left exit for I-96 from US 131. At the split between I-296 and US 131, I-296 curves northwest, and US 131 curves northeast following a bend in the Grand River. Once I-296 diverges from US 131, the highway crosses West River Drive and there are exits on the right for eastbound I-96 and the left for northbound M-37/Alpine Avenue. Past these two exits, I-296 merges into westbound I-96 and terminates. Southbound unsigned I-296 begins where the ramps to US 131 southbound split from eastbound I-96 at the Alpine Avenue overpass, merging with southbound US 131 north of Ann Street.^[3][4]

History

A freeway along the I-296/US 131 corridor was proposed in the 1950s. The 1955 "Yellow Book", an early proposal for what would become the Interstate Highway System, contained an inset of the proposed freeways in and around the Grand Rapids area including a north–south freeway near the downtown area.^[5] Designated as part of the Interstate Highway System in 1957, I-296 construction was funded by the federal government.^{[2][lower-alpha 1]}

The US 131 freeway was opened at 10 a.m. on December 17, 1962 between Pearl Street and the then-I-196/US 16 freeway north of downtown. This freeway section encompassed all of I-296 which would connect I-196 north of town with I-96 downtown.^[1] (The I-96 and I-196 designations were later flipped west of Grand Rapids.^[8]) M-37 was relocated in Grand Rapids to utilize I-96 around the northeast side of town instead of I-296/US 131 in 1969.^[9][10] The last state map to show the I-296 designation was published in 1979, as the 1980 map lacks any reference to the designation.^[11][12] Other maps, like the one published by the Kent County Road Commission, occasionally show I-296.^[13]

Exit list

The entire highway is in Kent County.

Footnotes

References

External links

• I-296 at Michigan Highways
• I-296 at Interstate Guide — Photos of termini and scan of 1970s Michigan map before the freeway designation was "hidden"