Template:Did you know nominations/U.S. Route 31 in Michigan

U.S. Route 31 in Michigan

 * ... that because of the Mitchell's Satyr butterfly (pictured), U.S. Highway 31 has an unfinished freeway segment?
 * Reviewed: Earth's internal heat budget
 * Comment: Recent GA promotion as well as expansion

5x expanded by Imzadi1979 (talk). Self nominated at 04:45, 18 November 2013 (UTC).


 * Symbol confirmed.svg Recent GA promotion (not sure on 5× expansion, since some content from other articles was included; someone more experienced at calculating such things should take a look if needed). Image good (OTRS ticket on file, CC-BY-SA, clear, rollover text present). Hook appears in article and is adequately sourced (AGFing offline reference 74). References well formatted. May be more accurate to qualify hook to reflect that there were factors other than the butterfly in play causing the delay of the freeway (according to reference 73). —Scott5114↗ [EXACT CHANGE ONLY] 07:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Symbol possible vote.svg The hook just isn't supported by the article or the sources. While the butterfly may have delayed the project earlier, it doesn't seem to be a factor any longer as indicated by FN73 (and confirmed by a 2004 document I found at the FN75 site); what's delaying the project at the moment is lack of funding, not the butterfly. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:19, 24 November 2013 (UTC)
 * ALT1: ... that because of the Mitchell's Satyr butterfly (pictured), U.S. Highway 31 has had an unfinished freeway segment, now delayed over funding issues?


 * The butterfly is mentioned in the "Future" section, and the introductory text says that the "extension is under study due to environmental, economical and historical site issues". Yet the next sentence, presumably about that study, talks about (and is sourced to) a study finished in 2004, which said that the butterfly is no longer an issue now that parcels of land with acres of butterfly habitat have been bought by MDOT and given to The Nature Conservancy. Yes, the hook is an issue, but the article is more of one, and these sentences need to be fixed before the nomination can proceed, since they do not accurately reflect the sourcing. ALT1's a bit choppy and has issues with tense; here's another suggestion:
 * ALT2: ... that the last freeway segment of U.S. Highway 31, delayed for many years because of the Mitchell's Satyr butterfly (pictured), is now on hold due to funding issues? —BlueMoonset (talk) 16:11, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
 * ALT3: ... that a freeway segment of U.S. Highway 31, delayed for many years because of the Mitchell's Satyr butterfly (pictured), is now on hold due to funding issues? It's not "the last" segment as there are plans to convert the highway being built as M-231 (see the rest of the Future section) into another freeway bypass. Also, there have been other long-term to convert the rest of US 31 in the state to a freeway, and Indiana is opening a freeway bypass of US 31 tomorrow (Tuesday Nov. 25) and another next year. Copyedits have been applied to the article, btw.  Imzadi 1979  →   18:38, 25 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm fine with ALT3, and accept your explanation of why it's more accurate, though the Future section could be more clear that these various bypasses are planned to be called U.S. Route 31 once they open, especially when given other names like "M-231" in the text. However, the problem remains that "delayed for many years because of the Mitchell's Satyr butterfly" is not supported in the article itself. It says something about studies, but nothing about how long they lasted or what their conclusions or remediation were, so "many years" cannot be justified, even though the source material potentially supports it. The copyedits didn't help with this; indeed, the butterfly appears still to be an issue. If it didn't affect the hook, it wouldn't be so important, but as long as the hook is based on the butterfly and its picture, more work needs to be done. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:57, 8 December 2013 (UTC)
 * well, the Indiana bypasses warrant no mention in an article entitled "U.S. Route 31 in Michigan", and the M-231 paragraph already states that it is "part of a long-range plan to build a US 31 bypass of Grand Haven". As for the butterfly, I've added the explicit timeline of events. MDOT received the original approval to build the freeway in 1981, and the butterfly was listed as an endangered species in 1992 which started the delays. The last segment of the freeway as approved in 1981 (section 5) was split into two sections, and the southernmost was completed in 2003. The supplement to the FEIS that accounted for the butterfly on the northernmost part of section 5 was not approved until 2004. So that part of the freeway was held up by the butterfly for 12 years (1992–2004) and now we're running about a decade on funding issues.  Imzadi 1979  →   11:18, 8 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Symbol confirmed.svg ALT3 is approved (all other hooks struck); very nice expansion of the article to accurately describe and source the issues with the highway vis a vis the butterfly and current funding. Rest of the article and image per earlier review by Scott5114. BlueMoonset (talk) 20:34, 10 December 2013 (UTC)