M-5 (Michigan highway)

Starting in 1933, M-5 was used as the designation along a section of highway that was previously part of US 2 in Mackinac and Chippewa counties in the Upper Peninsula.[11][12] This designation was in use until 1939 when it was replaced by M-129.[13][14]

Grand River Avenue was previously M-16 and US 16 in the early 20th century.

The chief transportation routes in 1701 were the Indian trails that crossed the future state of Michigan; the Grand River Trail was one of these thirteen trails at the time. Detroit created 120-foot (37 m) rights-of-way for the principal streets of the city, Grand River Avenue included, in 1805.[15] This street plan was devised by Augustus Woodward and others following a devastating fire in Detroit.[16] A ten-year project to construct a plank road between Detroit and Howell was authorized in 1820 along the Grand River Trail.[15] Grand River Avenue was included as one of Five Great Military Roads in 1825, along with the River Road, Michigan Avenue, Woodward Avenue and Gratiot Avenue.[17] The Grand River Road, precursor to the modern Grand River Avenue was named by Benjamin Williams, cofounder of Owosso; it was named for La Grande Riviere, the French name for the river.[18]

The opening of the Erie Canal in New York in 1826 brought new settlers to the Great Lakes region, and to the future state of Michigan. Many of these settlers began their inland journeys in Detroit. At first the Grand River Road was a "deep rutted, ditch bordered road".[19] The Grand River Road was a major route for settlers headed inland to Grand Rapids in 1836, as the shortest route for travelers coming from Detroit.[20]

In 1850, the Michigan State Legislature established the Lansing and Howell Plank Road Company,[21] which set about converting various Indian trails into the Lansing–Howell Plank Road, a task the company completed by 1853. At Howell the road connected with the Detroit–Howell Plank Road, establishing the first improved connection direct from the state capital to Michigan's largest metropolis. The Lansing–Detroit Plank Road was a toll road until the 1880s. It eventually evolved into the eastern part of the modern Grand River Avenue.[22]

By 1900, only a short stretch of the Detroit–Howell Plank Road was still make of planks; most of the other plank roads had been converted to gravel by this time.[23] When the Michigan State Highway Department (MSHD) had numbered and signed highways in the state in 1919,[24] it applied the M-16 number to Grand River Avenue across the state between Grand Haven and Detroit.[25]

The M-16 designation lasted for seven years. As the states were meeting with the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO, now AASHTO) to plan the United States Numbered Highway System, the route of M-16 was originally planned to be included in US 18.[26] When the system was announced on November 11, 1926,[27] Grand River Avenue and M-16 became part of US 16.[28] The first change to the US 16 routing in the Detroit area was made in 1933 when the highway was moved to bypass Farmington, with the old routing retained as a state highway.[12]

Planning map for the Detroit area freeways from 1955

MSHD had plans to upgrade the US 16 corridor to freeway standards in the middle of the 20th century. The first planning map in 1947 for what later became the Interstate Highway System showed a highway in the corridor.[29] The General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955, or Yellow Book after the cover color, showed generalized plans for the locations of Interstate Highways as designated in 1955. This also included a highway in the US 16 corridor.[30] The 1957 approval for the Interstate Highway System replaced much of US 16 with a portion of Interstate 94 (I-94).[31] MSHD submitted a recommended numbering plan for the Interstates in 1958 that showed I-96 following the US 16 corridor.[32]

The segments of the road between Brighton and Farmington were upgraded in 1956.[33][34] The MSHD initially signed the various freeways as Interstates in 1959,[35] and US 16 through the Farmington area gained the additional I-96 numbering.[36] Two years later, the business route through Farmington was redesignated as a business loop of I-96 instead of US 16.[37][38] The final connection for I-96 between Lansing and Brighton was completed in late 1962, and the US 16 designation was decommissioned in the state. The sections of highway through the Detroit metro area were given Business Loop (BL) or Business Spur (BS) I-96 designations.[38][39]

Until the 1970s, the freeway section of M-5 was part of I-96

When I-96 was completed in 1977, several highway designations were shifted in the Metro Detroit area. The BS I-96 designation was removed from Grand River Avenue. Rather than revert to its original number, M-16, MDOT selected M-5 as the new highway designation. Grand River was signed as M-5 between 8 Mile Road and I-96 exit 185 while leaving Grand River Avenue southeast of I-96 an unsigned state trunkline, OLD BS I-96. Both the portion of BS I-96 north of 8 Mile Road and the stub of I-96 that continued out to I-275 became part of M-102.[2][3] In 2016, as part of a street light replacement project along Grand River Avenue, M-5 trailblazers were installed along Grand River between its previous eastern terminus at I-96 exit 185 and Old BS I-96's former eastern terminus in Downtown Detroit. New signage for M-10 exit 2C (serving Grand River Avenue) installed in 2018 included M-5 trailblazers, further cementing this extension.

A freeway running north of Novi to the Davisburg area was included in the original Interstate Highway plans for Michigan. Originally included in the corridor for I-275, the Michigan Highway Commission canceled the northern section of the highway on January 26, 1977, after it spent $1.6 million (equivalent to $8.23 million in 2023) the year before purchasing land for the roadway.[40][41] This northern section was not planned as an Interstate Highway at that time, bearing the designation M-275 instead. Opposition to construction came from various citizen's groups and different levels of local government. Additionally, both The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press opposed the project. The Detroit City Council, led by then-Chairman Carl Levin opposed the plan. Levin said at the time, "At last I think people are waking up to the dangers of more and more expressways. At some point we've got to say enough. And I think we've reached it."[40] The US Department of the Interior reviewed the state's environmental impact study of the project and stated the project, "will cause irreparable damages on recreation lands, wetlands, surface waters and wildlife habitat."[40] The total project to link Farmington Hills with Davisburg with the 24-mile (39 km) freeway would have cost $69.5 million (equivalent to $336 million in 2023) and saved drivers an estimated eight minutes off travel time around the city of Detroit.[40][41]

After many years of inactivity, further work began along this same route, but the resulting highway was designated as a northern extension to M-5 rather than I-275 or M-275. The first section of this freeway extension was opened in October 1994. This extended the route from M-5's previous terminus at M-102 (8 Mile Road) over the latter highway's alignment west and north to 12 Mile Road.[42] A plan enacted by then Governor John Engler in 1995 angered road officials when funding was diverted from county road commissions to help complete state highway projects like the M-5 Haggerty Connector project.[43] In 1999, a second extension of M-5 was completed to 14 Mile Road, but only as an expressway.[44] The final two miles (3.2 km) between 14 Mile Road and Pontiac Trail opened to traffic on November 1, 2002.[45] In 2011, a roundabout was placed at the northern terminus of M-5. This last project also included a northern extension of roadway into the Eldorado Golf Course in Commerce Township to better serve the community. This extension does not carry the M-5 designation.[46]