Portal:Michigan highways/Selected article/April 2016

I-296 is an unsigned part of the Interstate Highway System in Michigan. It is a state trunkline highway that runs for 3.43 mi 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. In between, I-296 runs parallel to a section of the Grand River. For most of its length, the Interstate runs concurrently with US 131, which continues as a freeway built to Interstate Highway standards north and south of the shorter I-296. The only section of I-296 to exist independent of US 131 is the northernmost segment within the interchange with I-96 in Walker. The highway was first proposed in the late 1950s and opened in December 1962. After a study related to minimizing confusing signage in 1979, MDOT requested permission from the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to eliminate all signage for I-296 and remove the designation from the official state map. The designation is therefore |unsigned, but still listed on the Interstate Highway System route log maintained by the FHWA and used in other official contexts. (more...)

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