South
Beltline (Paul B. Henry) Freeway
Phases II & III Ribbon-Cutting
Photos
The second and third phases of the M-6/South Beltline (Paul B Henry) Freeway
across the southern portion of the Grand Rapids metro region were opened
to traffic on Wednesday, November 17, 2004. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took
place on the westbound lanes of the freeway at the Byron Center Ave overpass
in Byron Township. This is the third of three photo pages.
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Michigan State Transportation Commission Chair
Ted Wahby spoke for a few moments, again thanking many of those who
made the South Beltline a reality. Photo ©2004 Christopher J. Bessert. All Rights Reserved. |
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Lieutenant Governor and, on this day, Acting-Governor
John Cherry spoke at length about the M-6/South Beltline project
and echoed the under budget and ahead of schedule sentiments touched
on by earlier speakers. He also spoke highly of the late Representative
Paul B Henry, after whom the freeway is dedicated, and his securing
of funding for the project. Photo ©2004 Christopher J. Bessert. All Rights Reserved. |
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After the actual cutting of the ribbon spanning
the highway, yours truly and three co-workers from the Grand Valley
Metropolitan Council posed in front of the event tent on the westbound
lanes of the freeway. The crowd of spectators gathered on the Byron
Center Ave overpass is beginning to dissipate. Photo ©2004 Christopher J. Bessert. All Rights Reserved. |
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Even while the WOOD-TV 8 "Mobile Newsroom" microwave
truck, parked on the eastbound lanes of the South Beltline, was transmitting
images of the ribbon-cutting event back to the studios in Grand Rapids,
a WOOD-TV 8 "Sky Link" satellite truck arrived on the Byron
Center Ave overpass to prepare for live news remotes for the Noon,
5:00, 5:30, 6:00 and 11:00 PM newscasts. In addition to WOOD-TV 8,
other local news media from WZZM 13, WXMI Fox17, Woodradio AM 1300,
WKZO 590, the Grand Rapids Press and
the Advance newspapers were present. Photo ©2004 Christopher J. Bessert. All Rights Reserved. |
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As the first cars prepared to move out down the
eastbound side of the South Beltline, this shot illustrates the long
line of cars parked four abreast on the eastbound lanes as well as
two abreast on the loop ramp from southbound Byron Center Ave, barely
visible in the distance on the left side of the image. Photo ©2004 Christopher J. Bessert. All Rights Reserved. |
Photo Pages: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3