Interstate 696

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Interstate 696 Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System
Maintained by MDOT
Length:	29.24 mi[1] (47.06 km)
Formed:	First signed: 1962 Completed: 1989
west end:	I-96/I-275/M-5 in Novi
Major junctions:	US-24/M-10 in Southfield M-1 in Royal Oak I-75 in Royal Oak M-53 in Center Line M-97 in Warren M-3 in Roseville
east end:	I-94 in St. Clair Shores
Michigan highways < I-675 M-1 >

Interstate 696 (abbreviated I-696) is an interstate highway entirely within the U.S. state of Michigan. I-696 is also known as the Walter P. Reuther Freeway, named for a prominent figure in early automobile factory labor union activity. I-696 is a spur route, partially circling the city of Detroit, but traveling entirely through Detroit's northern suburbs. It starts by branching off of Interstate 96 at the west end and ends by merging into Interstate 94 on the east end. It has 6–8 lanes for most of its length and is approximately 10 miles north of downtown Detroit. It is a major morning and evening commute route, bringing many people living west of Detroit into the suburbs north of the city and into downtown Detroit via other Michigan highways such as M-10 ("The Lodge" freeway) and M-39 (The Southfield freeway). Some local residents affectionately call this freeway "The Autobahn of Detroit."^[2]

I-696 is part of the original Interstate highway system as outlined in 1956-58, with the first portion from Novi to Southfield opening in 1962, then the eastern third between I-75 and I-94 in early 1979, and the middle portion of I-696 between Telegraph Road and I-75 was completed in December 1989.

The segment of I-696 located between the Mixing Bowl and I-75 is known for its extensive use of retaining walls and three large landscaped caps. As a consequence of those beautification features, explosive flammable cargoes are banned on that segment.

As part of the overall rehabilitation to the Mixing Bowl interchange, a new partial interchange at Franklin Road has been constructed. An exit ramp from I-696 eastbound to American Drive opened in April 2006. An entrance ramp from Franklin Road to I-696 westbound opened in July 2006. The Franklin Road overpass re-opened in October 2006.^[3]

I-696's western terminus is also the northern terminus of I-275, making this junction one of the few (perhaps the only) points that is the terminus of two three-digit Interstate Highways with different parents.

Construction of I-696 took much longer than expected and went over budget. The major contributors to this were the Pleasant Ridge and Detroit Zoo lawsuits to stop construction of the freeway. Another was the fact that the eastern end of I-696 was constructed in place of many neighborhoods, many of which were less than 10-15 years in age. In fact, some of the neighborhoods in the Hoover and Van Dyke area were under construction at the same time as the I-696 project which led to confrontations between the two construction projects meaning that it ended up costing more to purchase the land.

For a short time in the 1970s, M-6 was used in place of the routing for the segment under construction east of I-75. It was unclear whether the lawsuits would force the center segment to be canceled, which would have left the I-696 freeway discontiguous. M-6 signs were erected on both the frontage roads and the divided road of 11 Mile at Mound Road.

[edit] Route description

Satellite image of the terminus at I-275

Prior to the opening of the central portion of I-696 in the late 1980's, eastbound traffic in Southfield was routed to southbound M-10 near the Telegraph Rd. exit (now Exit 8). The once-abandoned portion of I-696 appears to the left.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	Mile[1]	#	Destinations	Notes
Oakland	Farmington Hills	0.000		I-96 west – Lansing	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		0.000		M-5 east / Grand River Avenue	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		1.371	1	I-96 south / I-275 to M-5 - Toledo	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		4.570- 4.635	5	Orchard Lake Road
	Southfield	7.363- 7.489	7	American Drive	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		7.763- 8.241	8	M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to US-24 (Telegraph Road)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		10.040	10	M-10 (Northwestern Highway) to US-24 (Telegraph Road) / Lahser Road	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		10.444- 11.300	11	Evergreen Road
		11.474- 12.359	12	11 Mile Road, Southfield Road
	Oak Park	13.008- 13.646	13	Greenfield Road
		13.982- 14.824	14	10 Mile Road, Coolidge Road
		15.743- 16.692	16	M-1 (Woodward Avenue) / Main Street – Detroit Zoo
	Ferndale	16.909	17	Campbell Road, Hilton Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		17.373- 17.378	17	Bermuda Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		17.706- 18.292	18	I-75 – Flint, Detroit, Toledo
	Madison Heights	18.647- 18.668	19	Couzens Avenue, 10 Mile Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		19.258- 19.966	20	Dequindre Road, Ryan Road, John R Road
Macomb	Warren	20.523	21	11 Mile Road	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		21.512- 22.340	22	Mound Road
		22.611- 23.160	23	M-53 (Van Dyke Avenue) / Ryan Road
		23.666- 24.344	24	Hoover Road, Schoenherr Road
	Roseville	25.166- 26.259	26	M-97 (Groesbeck Highway) / Schoenherr Road
		27.083- 27.771	27	M-3 (Gratiot Avenue)
		27.970- 27.991	28	11 Mile Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		28.271- 28.368		I-94 – Detroit, Port Huron	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• [1]

v • d • e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 96 Michigan: 196 • 296 (unsigned) • 496 • 696