Portal:Michigan highways/Selected article/December 2016

I-496 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that passes through downtown Lansing. The loop route runs east from I-96 to the downtown area, turning south concurrently with US 127. It passes a former assembly plant used by Oldsmobile and runs along or crosses parts of the Grand and Red Cedar rivers. Construction started in 1963, and the freeway opened on December 18, 1970. Segments south of downtown were built near a historically black neighborhood that dates from the early 20th century. Community leaders opted not to fight the construction of the freeway, instead seeking affordable housing and relocation assistance for displaced residents. The city named the freeway in honor of a former mayor when it opened in 1970, but the local historical society proposed that the state rename it after Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company, after his mansion was demolished to make way for the freeway. The Michigan Legislature approved the name "Olds Freeway" two years later. (more...)

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