Recommended Interstate Route Numbering for Michigan
April 25, 1958
1. Change the present route number 92 from Detroit to Benton Harbor to 94.
a. This will provide direct routing from Detroit to the Chicago area which is very
desirable.
2. Present numbering of route 94 from Detroit to Grand Rapids to Benton Harbor, thence southwesterly to the Chicago area, does not provide adequate numbering since the route so numbered would, we believe, cause considerable confusion to the public. We are, therefore, proposing that this route from Detroit to Grand Rapids, thence northwesterly to Muskegon, be numbered 96.
3. We recommend the section of route number 94 from Grand Rapids southerly to Benton Harbor area be changed to number 67.
4. The Interstate route numbered 67 on the AASHO numbering map from Kalamazoo southwesterly to South Bend has been deleted from the system in Michigan and a new route has been approved from the vicinity of Marshall southerly to the State Line which connects up with another Interstate route in Indiana. We are recommending that this route be numbered 69 to connect with route 69 in Indiana. This recommendation has the concurrence of the Indiana State Highway Officials.
We have gone over with the staff in this department the matter of whether to the run the through route numbering on the Interstate System through the urban areas or to use the circumferential route as the through route. The consensus of opinion is that the through route should be numbered along the circumferential routes for the following reasons:
1. The travelling public generally prefers to follow the continuous numbered route on long trips and we feel that designating the urban connectors as the through route would tend to discourage the use of the circumferential route. We believe that the travelling should be encouraged to use the circumferential routes and the urban connectors relieved of unnecessary traffic through the urban area.
2. In Michigan, particularly, the circumferential routes will be built and completed and ready for operation for a considerable length of time prior to the completion of the urban connecting routes.
Our submittal(Above) shows the through route numbering following the circumferential routes with a seperate number recommended for the urban connectors.
The following numbering is recommended for the urban routes:
1. On Interstate route number 75: number the route at Flint 175 and the urban route in Saginaw 275.
2. On proposed route number 94: number the urban connector at Battle Creek 194.
3. On proposed route number 96: number the urban route in Grand Rapids 196 and the urban route in Lansing 296.
4. We also recommend the following numbers for the two routes in the Detroit area:
The east and west route north of Detroit(as shown on the Insert of the map) from route 96 easterly to route 77 as 98 and the north and south route on the west side of Detroit from apoint on route 75 south of Detroit, thence north to connect with route 75 northwest of Detroit as number 73.
