Michigan Highways

Early Willow Run, Detroit Industrial & Edsel Ford Expressways

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I-94

The Michigan State Highway Department was well underway constructing a system of freeways both in Southeast Michigan in and around greater Detroit, but also connecting many of the state's larger cities as well as metro areas outside the state, even before there were such things as Interstate Highways.

What began as an endeavor to get workers in Detroit to the automotive-turned-war munitions plants in Ypsilanti quicker and more efficiently eventually grew into a freeway extending first to, then through Detroit on the east and bypassing Ann Arbor on the west. Of course, today this corridor is but a segment in the I-94 freeway as it travels 275 miles across the Lower Peninsula from New Buffalo on Lake Michigan to Port Huron at the southernmost point of Lake Huron.

Since so much work was completed on the I-94 corridor even before I-94 itself existed as a route designation, the year-by-year history listings below act as companion pieces to the year-by-year history in the I-94 Listing in the Route Listings section of this website. Links at the end of each of the histories point to the I-94 Listing and vice-versa.
 

Year-by-Year History:

M-112/Willow Run Expressway & Edsel Ford Expressway

Prior to the construction of the Willow Run and Detroit Industrial Expressways, the main route between Detroit and Ypsilanti was US-12/Michigan Ave. Within less than a year after the U.S. joined World War II, the State Highway Dept had built the Willow Run Expwy and by the end of the decade, the Detroit Industrial had extended this highway to the western limits of Detroit to a connection with the planned Detroit Crosstown Expressway, now known as the Edsel Ford Freeway.

1942 (Sept) The 8.7 miles of the M-112/Willow Run Expwy are completed from the Willow Run Bomber Plants (automotive plants converted for the war effort) near Ypsilanti to M-56/Huron River Dr at Romulus. Constructed alongside Chase Rd, the Willow Run Expwy is a four-lane divided highway with some cross-road intersections, but no residential or commercial access. It is remarkable that the U.S. entered WWII on December 7, 1941 and a brand-new, four-lane expressway serving the bomber plants was opened nearly 10 months later!
1943-1944 The eastbound lanes of the M-112/Detroit Industrial Expwy are completed from the eastern end of the Willow Run Expwy at North Line Rd in Romulus to Southfield Hwy in Allen Park. By 1944, the westbound lanes of the freeway were completed. Unlike the Willow Run Expwy, the "DIE" is built as a completely limited-access freeway with interchanges and grade separations throughout.
1945 Just in time for the end of the war, the final segment of the M-112/Detroit Industrial Expwy is completed between Southfield Hwy in Allen Park and US-112/Michigan Ave on the Detroit/Dearborn city limit. Already a "Crosstown Expressway" is in the works to extend the "DIE" easterly across the city of Detroit.
1953 Almost ten years after the last segment of the Detroit Industrial Expwy was completed, the first section of the Edsel Ford Expwy is completed from the eastern end of the "DIE" at US-112/Michigan Ave to US-12/US-16/Grand River Ave northwest of downtown Detroit. It is unclear whether the Edsel Ford Expwy sported a state highway designation at this time or not. If not, it would receive one within a couple years.
1954 About this time, the Edsel Ford Expwy is completed to the John C Lodge Expwy (which has no route number yet) north of downtown Detroit.
1955 By 1955, the Edsel Ford is open to Russell St, which is generally the location of the present-day I-75/Walter P Chrysler Frwy interchange.
1956 In mid-1956, the M-112 designation from Ypsilanti into Detroit along the Willow Run, Detroit Industrial & Edsel Ford Expwys between Ypsilanti and the John C Lodge Expwy in Detroit is replaced by US-12. (At the John C Lodge, US-12 turns south to head into downtown Detroit--becoming the Lodge's first route designation!) It is still unclear if the Edsel Ford Expwy east of the Lodge sported a highway designation at this time.
1957 The Edsel Ford Expwy is completed to Mount Elliot Rd on Detroit's near East Side.
1958 In the fall of 1958, the Edsel Ford is completed as far as Conner St on Detroit's east side. Also this year, the so-called "Willow Run Bypass" is constructed at Ypsilanti, providing a direct connection between the southern end of Wiard Rd (present-day Exit 186) and the US-112 bypass of Ypsilanti (present-day Exit 185).
1959 The Edsel Ford Expwy is completed first to Moross Rd on the eastern limit of Detroit, then to M-29/Vernier Rd in Harper Woods. All sources point to the fact that the Edsel Ford east of the Lodge still did not carry a route number at this time. (This would change in 1960.)
At this point, the Willow Run, Detroit Industrial and Edsel Ford Expressways were assigned the I-94 route designation. To continue with the history of I-94 after the time, please refer to the I-94 Listing in the Route Listings section.

 

Year-by-Year History: US-12 Freeway Outside Metro Detroit

In addition to the freeways built into and through Detroit above, the US-12 corridor in Outstate Michigan was also being gradually upgraded to expressway and freeway standards as part of the proposed "Detroit-Chicago Expressway." Bypasses of Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson and Kalamazoo were either complete or underway even before I-94 arrived on the scene. In fact, additional freeway segments were already planned for the St Joseph/Benton Harbor and Battle Creek areas as well.

1956      Major changes to US-12 (the future route of I-94) occur during this time:
  • A new US-12 southern bypass of Ann Arbor opens to traffic, linking up with the (former) M-17 and BYP US-112 freeway bypassing Ypsilanti to the south. The new US-12 routing then continues early past Willow Run Airport via the Willow Run and Detroit Industrial Expressways (formerly M-112) into Detroit. (See details above.) The former route of US-12 from the west end of the new freeway west of Ann Arbor, through downtown, then northeasterly via Plymouth Rd past Plymouth and into Detroit is re-designated as M-14.
  • For the first time, US-12 and US-112 run concurrently for 4 miles along the Ypsilanti bypass when the former US-112 along Michigan Ave through downtown becomes BUS US-112.
  • The US-12 bypass of Jackson is converted to a fully-controlled access freeway, beginning at Michigan Ave on the west side of Parma and continuing easterly past Jackson to the eastern jct of BUS US-12 (present-day BL I-94) east of Jackson.
1957 The 1953 highway alignment of US-12 between the east side of Kalamazoo and just east of Galesburg is converted to a fully-limited access freeway.
1958 Several more major changes occur to US-12 (the future route of I-94):
  • A new segment of the US-12 freeway opens between the west end of the current freeway at Kalamazoo (present-day Exit 81) and US-131/Westnedge Ave (present-day Exit 76) on the south side of Kalamazoo.
  • Another portion of freeway is complete from the east end of the Kalamazoo-Galesburg segment (present-day Exit 88) to the Kalamazoo/Calhoun Co line (present-day Exit 92) southwest of Battle Creek.
  • A westererly extension of the US-12 freeway bypass of Jackson opens between Michigan Ave at Parma and M-99 northeast of Albion.
  • The first I-94 route markers likely begin to appear along the US-12 freeway between Ann Arbor and Detroit.
At this point, the I-94 route designation is applied to all completed segments of the US-12 "Detroit-Chicago Expressway" across the Lower Peninsula. To continue with the history of I-94 after the time, please refer to the I-94 Listing in the Route Listings section.

 
 
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