| US Highway 16 | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MSHD | ||||
| Length: | 210.643 mi[1] (338.997 km) | |||
| History: | November 11, 1926 – 1962 as US 16 Replaced by I-96 |
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| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: | Carferry docks in Muskegon | |||
| US 31 near Muskegon US 131 in Grand Rapids US 27 in Lansing US 23 near Brighton US 24 in Detroit |
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| East end: | US 10 / US 12 / US 25 / US 112 downtown Detroit | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Clinton, Ingham, Livingston, Oakland, Wayne | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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United States Numbered Highways Michigan State Trunkline Highway System
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US Highway 16 (US 16), also called Grand River Avenue for much of its length, is one of the principal pre-Interstate roads in the state of Michigan. Before the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926, the highway had been designated M-16. The modern road cuts across the Lower Peninsula in a northwest–southeast fashion from Grand Rapids to Detroit. Before the late 1950s and early 1960s, US 16 followed other roads between Muskegon and Grand Rapids, and then Grand River Avenue through Lansing to Detroit. With the coming of the Interstate Highway System, US 16 was shifted from the older roads to the new freeways. When the gap in the freeway was filled in around Lansing, the US 16 designation was decommissioned in the state. The freeway was then designated only Interstate 96 (I-96) or I-196.
The original pathway along the Grand River Avenue corridor was an Indian trail. This trail was used by the first European settlers to the area now known as Michigan in 1701. Later this trail was expanded into a plank road that formed the basis for one of the first state trunkline highways as M-16. Current segments of the roadway are still part of the state highway system as sections of M-43 or business loops off I-96. The portion of Grand River Avenue in Detroit between I-96 and the intersection with Cass Avenue and Middle Street in downtown Detroit is an unsigned state trunkline, sometimes referred to as Old Business Spur I-96 (OLD BS I-96). In Detroit, Grand River is one of five major avenues (along with Woodward, Michigan, Gratiot, and Jefferson) planned by Judge Augustus Woodward in 1805 that extend from downtown Detroit in differing directions. Grand River Avenue extends northwesterly from the city's downtown.
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At the time of its decommissioning, US 16 started its run through Michigan at the Grand Trunk Western Railroad carferry docks in Muskegon. The ferry extended across Lake Michigan, connecting Muskegon to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where US 16 continued to the west. From the docks, US 16 and M-46 traveled concurrently south and then east through downtown Muskegon. At Peck Street, US 16 turned south along Business US 31 (BUS US 31). These two highways ran concurrently out of town to the south through Muskegon Heights to Norton Shores. Here, the business loop ended at US 31, and US 16 joined the I-196 freeway headed east. (Later, the I-96 and I-196 designations west of Grand Rapids would be flipped, but at the time leading up to US 16's decommissioning in the state of Michigan, this had not yet been approved.) The I-196/US 16 freeway traveled southeast of Norton Shores through woodlands in rural Muskegon County parallel to the former US 16 routing through Fruitport to Nunica in Ottawa County. The freeway turned more directly east in Nunica past the eastern terminus of M-104, and continued east through more mixed forest and grassland terrain to serve the communities of Coopersville and Marne.[2]
As the freeway approached Kent County, it met the western terminus of M-11 which was the former routing of US 16 through the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. I-196/US 16 continued eastward around the north side of the metro area through the suburbs of Walker and Comstock Park. The freeway intersected the contemporaneous routing of US 131 along the East Beltline and curved south through the eastern edge of Grand Rapids to meet the then-current end of I-96 east of downtown. There I-196 ended and US 16 was transferred to the I-96 freeway. I-96/US 16 continued southward intersecting Cascade Road, which was previously US 16. Cascade Road east of this interchange meets the westernmost part of Grand River Avenue, which carried US 16 east all the way to Downtown Detroit.[2] Grand River Avenue ends at Cascade Road, but the historic routing carried it through Ada and Plainfield Township along the Grand River. The western end is at East Beltline, short of its westernmost extent in Grand Rapids.[3]
M-50 also joined the freeway at Cascade Road headed east, and together I-96/US 16/M-50 continued through eastern Kent County. M-50 departed to the south near Lowell, and the freeway crossed into southern Ionia County. Passing south of Portland, the freeway crossed east into Clinton County. North of Grand Ledge, I-96 ended and US 16 followed Wright Road off the freeway to Grand River Avenue. From here east, US 16 resumed its historic routing into the city of Lansing. Grand River Avenue carried the highway passed the airport and east to Larch Street, where US 16 turned south along US 27 north of downtown Lansing. At Saginaw Street, eastbound US 16 turned east on the one-way street, while westbound traffic ran a block north on Grand River Avenue. The two directions of travel merge at the east end of Saginaw Street in East Lansing. Grand River Avenue through East Lansing follows a tree-lined boulevard that forms the division between the campus of Michigan State University to the south and the rest of the city to the north. US 16 continues east through Ingham County through Okemos and rural parts of the county through Williamston and Webberville.[2]
Grand River Avenue crosses to the east into Livingston County through Fowlerville to Howell. In Howell, Grand River Avenue meets Hartland Road which carries M-59; the highway also met M-155 in downtown, which at the time provided access to the Howell State Hospital. In the approach to Brighton, Grand River Avenue passes through rural southeast Michigan lake country. In Brighton, Grand River Avenue crossed the western end of the then-built section of the I-96 freeway. US 16 merged onto the freeway, and I-96/US 16 met the northern end of then-built US 23 freeway. I-96/US 16 continued east into Oakland County through Wixom and Novi.[2]
Near Farmington, I-96 left what is now its current routing and continued to the southeast of the present-day I-96/I-275/I-696/M-5 interchange along the current M-5. Grand River Avenue through here was Business Loop I-96 (BL I-96). The freeway ends at a junction with Grand River Avenue that also marked the end of the business loop. From there, US 16 continued along Grand River Avenue all the way into downtown Detroit. Along the way, it intersected US 24 at Telegraph Road and M-39 at Southfield Road. US 12 joined US 16 along Grand River Avenue at Plymouth Road. The two ran the rest of the way concurrently to Cadillac Square. There they terminated at a common point with US 10 (Woodward Avenue) and US 112 (Michigan Avenue). US 25 ran through the square on Fort Street and Gratiot Avenue.[2]
The history of Grand River Avenue, and US 16 in Michigan, dates back to before the earliest settlement of Michigan by Europeans. The route has been the basis for an Indian trail, a pathway for European settlers, a state highway, a part of the US Highway System, and a section of the Interstate Highway System.
| M-16 | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Muskegon–Detroit |
| Existed: | c. July 1, 1919[5]–November 11, 1926[4] |
The chief transportation routes in 1701 were the Indian trails that crossed the future state of Michigan; the Grand River Trail was one of these thirteen trails at the time. Detroit created 120-foot (37 m) rights-of-way for the principle streets of the city, Grand River Avenue included, in 1805.[6] This street plan was devised by Augustus Woodward and others following a devastating fire in Detroit.[7] A ten-year project to construct a plank road between Detroit and Howell was authorized in 1820 along the Grand River Trail.[6] Grand River Avenue was included as one of Five Great Military Roads in 1825, along with the River Road, Michigan Avenue, Woodward Avenue and Gratiot Avenue.[8] The Grand River Road, precursor to the modern Grand River Avenue was named by Benjamin Williams, cofounder of Owosso; it was named for La Grande Riviere, the French name for the river.[9]
The opening of the Erie Canal in New York in 1826 brought new settlers to the Great Lakes region, and to the future state of Michigan. Many of these settlers began their inland journeys in Detroit. At first the Grand River Road was a "deep rutted, ditch bordered road".[10] The road branched into two at Rouge (now Redford); the southern branch roughly followed the modern route of Grand River Avenue and the northern route ran by way of Pontiac along Woodward Avenue and the modern M-21 to the north of the Lansing area.[11] From Bancroft, several trails branched off, including the northern branch of the Grand River Road and the Saginaw Trail.[12] The two branches merged back together near Dewitt and continued west toward Ionia and on to Grand Rapids and Newton (now Grand Haven).[13] The early travelers plied the road in wagons pulled by oxen or horses, and drivers charged between four and seven cents a mile. The horses were exchanged every 12–15 miles (19–24 km) with the speed averaging around 8–10 miles per hour (13–16 km/h) with few obstacles.[14]
Congress further aided the road in 1835 with an appropriation of $25,000 (equivalent to $530,000 in 2012[15]) for a 20-foot (6 m) road on 100 feet (30 m) of right-of-way.[16] These improvements included removing brush and debris and the construction of bridges across the Rouge, Shiawassee, Red Cedar and Grand rivers.[17] The Grand River Road was a major route for settlers headed inland to Grand Rapids in 1836, as the shortest route for travelers coming from Detroit.[18] An economic panic in 1837 drove settlers from New York to Michigan, settlers that followed the Grand River Road. New settlements were created along the route, every 6 miles (9.7 km) or so; that distance being a good day's travel by horse. Approximately 124 wagons left Detroit each day between August and November 1843. When the state capitol was moved to Lansing in 1847, an improved road was needed to the capital city.[19]
In 1850, the Michigan State Legislature established the Lansing and Howell Plank Road Company,[20] which set about converting various Indian trails into the Lansing–Howell Plank Road, a task the company completed by 1853. At Howell the road connected with the Detroit–Howell Plank Road, establishing the first improved connection direct from the state capital to Michigan's largest metropolis. The Lansing–Detroit Plank Road was a toll road until the 1880s. It eventually evolved into the eastern part of the modern Grand River Avenue.[21]
By 1900, only a short stretch of the Detroit–Howell Plank Road was still make of planks; most of the other plank roads had been converted to gravel by this time.[22] On the first map published on July 1, 1919, the Michigan State Highway Department (MSHD) had numbered and signed highways in the state. The department applied the M-16 number to Grand River Avenue across the state between Grand Haven and Detroit.[5] M-16 was rerouted in the Lansing area in 1925, running along Grand River Avenue from Grand Ledge to East Lansing. The former routing through Downtown Lansing on Michigan Avenue became part of M-39 and the section north of Grand Ledge was eventually redesignated M-100. A second realignment moved M-16 to follow Grand River Avenue from Ionia through Ada. The former alignment became a part of M-21[23]
The M-16 designation lasted for seven years. As the states were meeting with the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO, now AASHTO) to plan the United States Numbered Highway System, the route of M-16 was originally planned to be included in US 18.[24] When the system was announced on November 11, 1926,[25] Grand River Avenue and M-16 became part of US 16.[4]
In 1929, Allan Williams placed a picnic table on the side of the road along US 16 south of Saranac. Williams was the Ionia County engineer in charge of the various roads in the county, and that location is "what many consider to be the nation’s first roadside table".[26] The first change to the US 16 routing was made in 1933 when the highway was moved to bypass Farmington, with the old routing retained as a state highway.[27] The next year, in 1934, M-126 was created between Nunica and Muskegon. In 1940, US 16 was rerouted to replace M-126, and the former route of US 16 between Nunica and Grand Haven was redesignated M-104.[28] Two further changes during 1941–42 rerouted the western end in Muskegon to end at the car ferry docks. Previously motorists had to navigate from the western end along other roads to the ferry connection to the rest of US 16 in Wisconsin. The second change routed Bypass US 16 (BYP US 16) along 28th Street and Wilson (previously the South Beltline and West Beltline sections of M-114) in the Grand Rapids area.[29] The US 16 designation was moved in 1953 to replace BYP US 16 while the former routing through downtown Grand Rapids was redesignated Business US 16 (BUS US 16).[30][31]
MSHD had plans to upgrade the US 16 corridor to freeway standards in the middle of the 20th century. The first planning map in 1947 for what later became the Interstate Highway System showed a highway in the corridor.[32] The General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955, or Yellow Book after the cover color, showed generalized plans for the locations of Interstate Highways as designated in 1955. This also included a highway in the US 16 corridor.[33] The 1957 approval for the Interstate Highway System replaced the Grand Rapids – Detroit section of US 16 with a portion of Interstate 94 (I-94), with the remainder to be I-94N.[34] MSHD submitted a recommended numbering plan for the Interstates in 1958 that showed I-96 following the US 16 corridor.[35] When initially approved, the Muskegon – Grand Rapids segment of US 16 was to be numbered as I-196 while the remainder was part of I-96.[36]
Segments of the road were upgraded in 1956 between Coopersville and Marne, Portland and Eagle, and Brighton and Farmington.[37] By 1962, freeway construction allowed motorists to travel between Muskegon and the Lansing area on a freeway, bypassing the old Grand River Avenue route.[2] The final connection between Lansing and Brighton was completed in late 1962. At that time, the US 16 designation, which had been applied alongside the I-96 and I-196 designations, was decommissioned. Segments of the old highway were retained in the state highway system under different numbers. Sections through Portland, Lansing, Howell, Farmington and Detroit were given Business Loop (BL) or Business Spur (BS) I-96 designations. The section between Lansing and Webberville became part of an extended M-43.[38] Other sections in the Detroit area became parts of M-102 or M-5 or unsigned state highway.[39][40]
After US 16 was transferred to the new freeway, Grand River Avenue lost its state highway status along most of its length. Today the roadway remains the "Main Street" of over a dozen Michigan cities and a scenic route through one of the state's most populated corridors. In 1995, major reconstruction work along Grand River Avenue in East Lansing uncovered rotting logs, buried about 2 feet (0.61 m) below the present grade, that had been used as underlayment for the plank road surface in a low, swampy area. The logs had been in place for nearly 150 years.[41] In 2004, the state transferred several blocks at the eastern end of Grand River Avenue to the City of Detroit. State trunkline control now ends at the corner of Grand River Avenue, Middle Street, and Cass Avenue.[42][43]
Community leaders in Lansing have proposed renaming a section of Grand River Avenue in Old Town Lansing for César Chávez, the Mexican-American civil rights activist. The group "Lansing for Cesar E. Chavez" was raising funds to rename the section of Grand River Avenue between Oakland and Pine Streets in Old Town. Previously, a section of Grand Avenue was renamed for Chávez in 1994, but the voters overturned the decision.[44] The renaming proposal was even mentioned as a way to untangle a maze of different branches of Grand River Avenue running through Old Town. Currently, East Grand River Avenue and North Grand River Avenue bridge between sections of Grand River Avenue, in addition to Grand Avenue which runs along the Grand River near downtown.[45] While Lansing's Latino community supported the proposal, the business community opposed it. One shop owner said she would have $10,000 in costs associated with a name change, adding, "I think there's many beautiful ways to honor such an incredible man. Changing five blocks of a street doesn't seem to do justice." Another business owner cited the work the Old Town Commercial Association has done to market the area using the Grand River Avenue name; marketing that would be useless after a name change.[46] The compromise solution reached in August 2010 was to rename lot 56, where Old Town holds festivals to Cesar Chavez Plaza. Street signs would be installed marking parts of Grand River Avenue as Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, but only in a memorial capacity. The street would still be officially named Grand River Avenue.[47]
| County | Location | Mile[1] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muskegon |
Muskegon | 0.000 | Carferry docks M-46 east (Mart Street) |
Carferries connected to U.S. Route 16 in Wisconsin; western terminus of M-46 |
| 1.100 | BUS US 31 north / M-46 east (Peck Street) |
Northern end of BUS US 31 concurrency; eastern end of M-46 concurrency | ||
| Norton Shores | 6.160 | I-196 US 31 BUS US 31 north (Airline Highway) |
Western end of I-196 concurrency; southern end of BUS US 31 concurrency | |
| Ottawa |
Nunica | 15.452 | M-104 west | Eastern terminus of M-104 |
| Tallmadge Township | 30.099 | BUS US 16 east / M-11 east (Remembrance Road) |
Western terminus of M-11 | |
| Kent |
Walker | 36.455 | M-37 north (Alpine Avenue) | Western end of M-37 concurrency |
| Grand Rapids | 39.223 | BUS US 131 (Plainfield Avenue) |
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| 43.233 | I-196 ends / I-96 begins | Eastern end of I-196 concurrency; western end of I-96 concurrency | ||
| 43.961 | US 131 / M-37 south (East Beltline Avenue) | Eastern end of M-37 concurrency | ||
| Grand Rapids Township | 44.897 | M-21 (Fulton Street) | ||
| 46.174 | BUS US 16 west / M-50 west (Cascade Road) |
Eastern end of M-50 concurrency | ||
| Cascade Township | 49.146 | M-11 west (28th Street) | Eastern terminus of M-11 | |
| Lowell Township | 58.463 | M-50 east / M-91 north | Eastern end of M-50 concurrency; southern terminus of M-91 | |
| Ionia |
Berlin Township | 73.587 | M-66 | |
| Clinton |
Eagle Township | 92.578 | I-96 west M-100 |
I-96 temporarily ended here; US 16 follows Grand River Avenue east |
| Ingham |
Lansing | 101.738 | M-174 north (Logan Street) | |
| 103.103 | US 27 (Larch Street) | Northern end of US 27 concurrency | ||
| 103.630 | M-43 west / M-78 (Saginaw Street) US 27 south (Larch Street) |
Eastern terminus of M-43; southern end of US 27 concurrency | ||
| Leroy Township | 121.099 | M-47 north | Southern terminus of M-47 | |
| Livingston |
Howell | 157.476 | M-59 east | Western terminus of M-59 |
| 160.154 | M-155 west | Eastern terminus of M-155 | ||
| Brighton | 168.676 | I-96 east | Western end of I-96 freeway concurrency | |
| Brighton Township | 171.212 | US 23 | ||
| Oakland |
West Novi | 182.782 | M-218 east | Western terminus of M-218 |
| Farmington | 189.210 | BL I-96 east | ||
| 193.314 | I-96 west BL I-96 west |
Eastern end of I-96 freeway concurrency | ||
| Oakland– Wayne |
Farmington Hills – Livonia |
194.590 | M-102 (8 Mile Road) | 8 Mile Road is the county and city line |
| Wayne |
Detroit | 197.135 | US 24 (Telegraph Road) | |
| 200.584 | M-39 (Southfield Road) | |||
| 204.499 | US 12 west (Plymouth Road) | West end of US 12 concurrency | ||
| 209.431 | BS I-696 (John C. Lodge Freeway) | |||
| 210.643 | US 10 west (Woodward Avenue) US 12 west (Grand River Avenue) US 25 (Fort Street/Gratiot Avenue) US 112 west (Michigan Avenue) |
Cadillac Square served as the common terminus for US 10, US 12, US 16 and US 112 | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened |
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| US Highway 16 | ||
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| Previous state: Wisconsin |
Michigan | Next state: Terminus |
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