Interstate 296

File:Interstate 296.jpg]]

I-296 begins at the I-196 interchange west of the Grand River and downtown Grand Rapids. For a short distance within the interchange, the three northbound lanes are on the left and the three southbound lanes are on the right, contrary to the normal traffic arrangement in the US. This anomaly is reversed north of the ramps for I-196 as the southbound lanes pass over the northbound lanes. Running parallel to the Grand River on the west bank, the freeway designation begins across the river from the 6th Street Bridge Park and Belknap Hill north of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and the DeVos Place Convention Center. The west side of the freeway faces residential neighborhoods and the east side borders commercial businesses and the river. South of the Ann Street interchange, the highway crosses a line of the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad. After crossing both the railroad and Ann Street, the highway widens to allow for a grassy median. The freeway leaves Grand Rapids and enters Walker north of Ann Street.{{cite MDOT map |year= 2013 |inset= Grand Rapids }}{{google maps |url= http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=US-131+N&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&sll=42.974935,-85.679154&sspn=0.015134,0.01457&geocode=FWC4jwIdkqfk-g%3BFXJikAId6Yvk-g&oq=Walker&mra=ls&t=h&z=14 |title= Overview Map of Unsigned I-296 |access-date= December 22, 2009}}

Approaching I-96 from the south, the freeway passes east of the former DeltaPlex Arena, and the median widens further across the river from Comstock Riverside Park in Walker. An extra lane is added on the left, widening the freeway to four lanes. Unsigned I-296 occupies the left two lanes that form the left exit for I-96 from US 131. At the split between I-296 and US 131, I-296 curves northwesterly, and US 131 curves northeasterly to follow a bend in the Grand River. Once I-296 diverges from US 131, the highway crosses a rail line owned by CSX Transportation and passes over West River Drive. To the northwest of these crossings, exits emerge on the right for eastbound I-96 and the left for northbound M-37 (Alpine Avenue). Past these exits, I-296 merges into westbound I-96 and terminates. Southbound unsigned I-296 begins where the ramps to US 131 southbound split from eastbound I-96 at the Alpine Avenue overpass, collecting an on-ramp from M-37 and then merging with southbound US 131 north of Ann Street.

File:Grand Rapids, Michigan 1955 Yellow Book.jpg

The development of a freeway along the modern-day I-296/US 131 corridor was proposed in the 1950s. The 1955 General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, an early platform for what would become the Interstate Highway System, contained an inset of the proposed freeways in and around the Grand Rapids area including a north–south freeway near the downtown area.{{cite map |map-url = http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Rapids,_Michigan_1955_Yellow_Book.jpg |title = General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955 |map = Grand Rapids |page = 43 |scale = Scale not given |author = Bureau of Public Roads |location = Washington, DC |publisher = Government Printing Office |date = September 1955 |oclc = 4165975 |via = Wikimedia Commons }} Designated as part of the Interstate Highway System in 1957, I-296's construction was funded by the federal government.{{cite web |first = Kevin |last = Adderly |date = May 23, 2017 |title = Table 2: Auxiliary Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as of December 31, 2013 |url = https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/interstate_highway_system/routefinder/table02.cfm |work = Route Log and Finder List |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = June 16, 2017 }}{{#tag:ref|I-296 was constructed and included in the Interstate Highway System before 1978. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978 provided that all Interstate construction authorized under previous amendments to the system would be funded by the federal government but additional highway mileage added under {{usc|23|103(c)(4)(A)}} would not be supported by the same allocation of funds.{{cite conference |author= United States Congress |author-link= United States Congress |year= 1978 |title= Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978 |id= {{USPL|99|599}} }}{{cite web |first = Kevin |last = Adderly |date = January 15, 2014 |url = https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/interstate_highway_system/routefinder/?redirect |work = Route Log and Finder List |title = Expansion of Mileage |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = August 1, 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140805032748/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/ |archive-date = August 5, 2014 }}|group=lower-alpha}}

The US 131 freeway was officially opened at 10 a.m. on December 17, 1962, between Pearl Street and (at the time) the I-196/US 16 freeway north of downtown. This freeway section encompassed all of I-296, which would connect I-196 north of town with I-96 downtown. (The I-96 and I-196 designations were later flipped west of Grand Rapids.{{cite news |work = The Holland Evening Sentinel |title = New Numbers Seen for Road |page = 4 |date = October 23, 1963 |agency = United Press International |issn = 1050-4044 |oclc = 13440201 |url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10217809/new_numbers_seen_for_road/ |access-date = April 12, 2016 |via = Newspapers.com }}) M-37 was relocated in Grand Rapids to utilize I-96 around the northeast side of town instead of I-296/US 131 in 1969.{{cite MDOT map |year=1969 |link= yes |c-link= yes |inset=Grand Rapids}}{{cite MDOT map |year=1970 |inset=Grand Rapids}}

At the end of the 1970s, MDOT took part in a FHWA-backed initiative called the Positive Guidance Demonstration Project, and the two agencies audited signage practices in the vicinity of the I-96/M-37 and I-296/US 131 interchange in Walker. MDOT determined that usage of the I-296 designation was "a potential source of confusion for motorists."{{cite letter |last = Conner |first = Robert E. |recipient = Donald E. Trull |date = April 11, 1979 |title = Removing I-296 Signs in Grand Rapids |url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Removing_I-296_Signs_in_Grand_Rapids |location = Washington, DC |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = June 3, 2019 |via = Wikisource }} FHWA agreed with the department's proposal to eliminate all signage and public map references to the designation in April 1979. MDOT then petitioned the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on June 22, 1979, for their permission to make the change, saying "it is felt that the I-296 designation serves no useful purpose other than to designate an Interstate routing."{{cite letter |last = Woodford |first = John P. |recipient = Henrik E. Stafseth |date = June 22, 1979 |title = Request for Official AASHTO Approval to Remove I-296 Route Designation from All References While Retaining the Route as Part of the Interstate System |url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Request_for_Official_AASHTO_Approval_to_Remove_I-296_Route_Designation_from_All_References_While_Retaining_the_Route_as_Part_of_the_Interstate_System |location = Lansing |publisher = Michigan Department of Transportation |access-date = June 3, 2019 |via = Wikisource }} AASHTO approved the request on October 13.{{AASHTO minutes |year= 1979A |page= 1 |access-date= August 2, 2014 |link= yes }} On October 24 that year, MDOT also requested formal permission from the FHWA to remove all signage and map references to I-296. The FHWA granted permission on December 3, 1979, on the condition that MDOT would continue to use the designation on official documents. The approval explicitly retained the highway in the Interstate system for funding and other purposes.{{cite letter |last = Merchant |first = David A. |date = December 3, 1979 |title = Removal of I-296 Designation, Grand Rapids |url = https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Removal_of_I-296_Designation,_Grand_Rapids |recipient = John P. Woodford |location = Lansing, Michigan |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = June 3, 2019 |via = Wikisource }} The last state map to show the I-296 designation was published in 1979, as the 1980 map lacks any reference to the designation.{{cite MDOT map |year= 1979 |link= yes |inset=Grand Rapids}}{{cite MDOT map |year= 1980 |inset=Grand Rapids}} Other maps, like the one published by the Kent County Road Commission, occasionally show I-296,{{cite map |author = Kent County Road Commission |author2 = REGIS Agency |name-list-style = amp |year = 2008 |title = Official Road Map |location = Grand Rapids, Michigan |publisher = Kent County Road Commission |scale = 1:95,040 |at = T7N R12W S12 |oclc = 277273068 }} and FHWA includes the designation in their Route Log and Finder List for the Interstate Highway System.

{{wide image|Interstate 296 & Grand River cropped.jpg |800px|alt=Panorama of city showing the Grand River and the I-296/US 131 freeway|I-296/US 131 viewed from across the Grand River}}

{{MIinttop|exit|ref={{cite MDOT PRFA |link= yes |access-date=April 9, 2010}}|county=Kent|eref=Most of I-296 is concurrent with US 131 and uses the exit numbers of the latter.}}

{{MIint|exit

|location=Grand Rapids

|lspan=3

|mile=0.000

|exit=86

|type=concur

|road={{jct|state=MI|I|196|name1=G.R. Ford Freeway|city1=Lansing|city2=Holland}}
{{jct|state=MI|US|131|dir1=south|city1=Kalamazoo}}

|notes=Signed as exits 86A (east) and 86B (west); southern end of unsigned I-296 concurrency on US 131}}

{{MIint|exit

|mile=0.815

|exit=87

|road=Leonard Street

|notes=Previously Bus. US 131}}

{{MIint|exit

|mile=1.566

|exit=88

|road=Ann Street

|notes=}}

{{MIint|exit

|location=Walker

|lspan=4

|mile=2.648

|exit=89

|espan=4

|type=concur

|road={{jct|state=MI|US|131|dir1=north|city1=Cadillac|name2=Alpine Avenue}}

|notes=Northern end of US 131 concurrency; I-296 designation continues along the ramps between I-96 and US 131}}

{{MIint

|mile=2.957

|type=incomplete

|road={{jct|state=MI|I|96|M|37|dir1=east|dir2=south|city1=Lansing}}

|notes=Northbound exit only}}

{{MIint

|mile=3.185

|type=incomplete

|road={{jct|state=MI|M|37|dir1=north|name1=Alpine Avenue}}

|notes=Secondary left exit northbound for M-37 north (Alpine Avenue)}}

{{MIint

|mile=3.393

|road={{jct|state=MI|I|96|dir1=west|city1=Muskegon}}

|notes=Northbound exit and southbound entrance}}

{{jctbtm|keys=concur,incomplete}}

• {{portal-inline|Michigan Highways}}

{{reflist |group=lower-alpha}}

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{{Attached KML|display=inline,title}}

• [http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys250-696.html#I-296 I-296] at Michigan Highways
• [http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-296_mi.html I-296] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321171710/http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-296_mi.html |date=March 21, 2019 }} at Interstate Guide—Photos of termini and scan of 1970s Michigan map before the freeway designation was "hidden"
• [http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/ix96.html#296mi I-296] at kurumi.com

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Category:U.S. Route 131

Category:Transportation in Kent County, Michigan

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