Interstate 196 (I-196) is an
auxiliary Interstate Highway
Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a supplemental subset of the freeways within the Interstate Highway System of the United States.
Auxiliary routes are generally classified as spur routes, which con ...
that runs for in the US state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. It is a
state trunkline highway that links
Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of ...
,
South Haven,
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
, and
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
. In
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, and
Allegan counties, I-196 is known as the Gerald R. Ford Freeway, or simply the Ford Freeway, after President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
, who was raised in Grand Rapids and served Michigan in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
for 25 years. This name generally refers only to the section between Holland and Grand Rapids. I-196 changes direction; it is signed as a north–south highway from its southern terminus to the junction with
US Highway 31 (US 31) just south of Holland, and as an east–west trunkline from this point to its eastern terminus at an interchange with
I-96
Interstate 96 (I-96) is an east–west Interstate Highway that runs for approximately entirely within the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The western terminus is at an interchange with US Highway 31 (US 31) and Bu ...
, its parent highway. There are three
business route
A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route connected to a ''parent'' numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or ...
s related to the main freeway. There are two business loops (BL I-196) and one business spur (BS I-196) that serve South Haven, Holland and the Grand Rapids areas. Another business spur for
Muskegon
Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expans ...
had been designated relative to the I-196 number.
The freeway numbered I-196 is the second in the state to bear the number. Originally to be numbered as part of the
I-94 corridor in the state, the Benton Harbor–Grand Rapids freeway was given the I-96 number in the 1950s while another Interstate between Muskegon and Grand Rapids was numbered I-196. That I-196 was built in the late 1950s and completed in the early 1960s. The first segment of the current I-196 was opened as I-96 near Benton Harbor in 1962. Michigan officials requested a change in 1963 which reversed the two numbers, and the subsequent segments of freeway opened northward to Holland and from Grand Rapids westward under the current number. The gap between Holland and
Grandville was filled in the 1970s, and a section of freeway that runs through downtown Grand Rapids was rebuilt as a wider freeway in 2010.
Route description
Like other state highways in Michigan, I-196 is maintained by the
Michigan Department of Transportation
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate ...
(MDOT). In 2011, the department's traffic surveys showed that on
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
, 77,500 vehicles used the highway daily between Lane Avenue and US 131 in Grand Rapids and 12,778 vehicles did so each day north of the split with US 31 near Holland. These are the highest and lowest counts along the highway, respectively.
As an Interstate Highway, all of I-196 is listed on the
National Highway System,
a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
In addition, the highway has been named by the
Michigan Legislature the ''Gerald R. Ford Freeway'' to honor the 38th President of the United States.
The original legislation from 1974 extended that name to the full length of the freeway, but when the various memorial highway names were re-codified in 2001, the name was not applied to the
Berrien County segment.
From the junction with
M-63 north to the split with US 31 except for the section that connects the ends of the South Haven business loop, the freeway is also a part of the
Lake Michigan Circle Tour
The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It consists of routes for circumnavigating the lakes, either individually or collectively. It was designated by the Grea ...
(LMCT), a tourist route that follows
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
.
[
]
Benton Harbor to Holland
The freeway starts northeast of Benton Harbor at exit 34 on I-94 in Benton Charter Township in Berrien County. At the trumpet interchange
In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...
, I-196 runs north from I-94 and passes to the west of the Point O'Woods Golf & Country Club. US 31 joins I-196 from the southwest and runs concurrently with I-196 as the freeway passes through farm fields in southwestern Michigan. The trunkline turns northwesterly near the Lake Michigan Hills Golf Course and crosses the Paw Paw River
The Paw Paw River is located in the U.S. state of Michigan in the southwest portion of the lower peninsula. It is formed by the confluence of the north and south branches at in Waverly Township in the northeast of Van Buren County. It flows ap ...
. Past the river, the freeway turns northeasterly and runs roughly parallel to the Lake Michigan shoreline several miles inland. At the community of Lake Michigan Beach, I-196/US 31 meets the northern terminus of M-63 at exit 7, and the LMCT joins the freeway for the first time. North of this interchange, the freeway parallels A-2
A2, A02, A002, A², A.II or A-2 may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* British NVC community A2 (Lemna minor community), a plant community
* A2, the second anal vein in the Comstock-Needham system of insect wing segment naming
Genes and proteins
* ...
, a county road that follows the Blue Star Highway
Blue Star Memorial Highways are highways in the United States that are marked to pay tribute to the U.S. armed forces. The National Council of State Garden Clubs, now known as National Garden Clubs, Inc., started the program in 1945 after World ...
, the former route of US 31.[
]
A bit further north, I-196/US 31 crosses into Van Buren County and assumes the Gerald R. Ford Freeway name. The inland side of the freeway is forested while the lakeward side is predominantly either forest or fields. As it approaches South Haven, the freeway passes near the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station
The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station was a nuclear power plant located on Lake Michigan, in Van Buren County's Covert Township, Michigan, on a site south of South Haven, Michigan, USA. Palisades was owned and operated by Entergy. It had ...
and Van Buren State Park. North of the power plant and park, the freeway turns farther inland to bypass the city of South Haven. There is an interchange on the south side of town that provides access to Business Loop I-196 (BL I-196) and M-140. The freeway crosses over M-43 without an interchange and then intersects the other end of the business loop about later. It crosses the Black River near the Van Buren– Allegan county line.[
In Allegan County, I-196/US 31 passes a pair of golf courses and continues northward through farm fields. Near the community of Glenn, A-2 crosses over the freeway and runs parallel to it on the east. They trade places again when I-196/US 31 turns northeasterly on the south side of the twin cities of Saugatuck and ]Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
. The freeway crosses over a section of Kalamazoo Lake, a wider section of the Kalamazoo River
The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to when one includes the South Branch.U.S. Geologica ...
that flows between the two towns. A-2 crosses back to the eastern side of the freeway north of Saugatuck, and I-196/US 31 continues north-northeasterly toward Holland.[
]
Holland to Grand Rapids
On the south side of Holland, the two highways split apart; US 31 separates from I-196 at a partial interchange near the West Michigan Regional Airport
West Michigan Regional Airport , formerly ''Tulip City Airport'', is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) south of the central business district of Holland, a city in Ottawa County and Allegan County, Michigan, United S ...
(formerly the Tulip City Airport). At this interchange, northbound traffic may follow a left exit to continue on the BL I-196/US 31 freeway or continue along I-196 which turns more eastward; the LMCT departs I-196 at this point as well. Signage along I-196 changes after this interchange. Up to this point, it had been signed north–south, but from the US 31 split onward, the directions are now signed east–west. The freeway passes to the south side of the airport,[ and it crosses a rail line owned by ]CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
and used by Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's ''Pere Marquette'' train before curving northeasterly through the interchange with M-40. The freeway crosses into Ottawa County south of the Macatawa River
The Macatawa River, also known as the Black River, is located in the lower part of Ottawa County, Michigan, which drains into Lake Macatawa and eventually into Lake Michigan. The main stream is long.
The name Macatawa is a mis-phoneticization of ...
before meeting the other two interchanges for Holland, the second of which is the northern end of the business loop in Zeeland
, nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge")
, anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem")
, image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg
, map_alt =
, m ...
.[
]
Continuing past Zeeland, I-196 runs more east-northeasterly as it parallels M-121 (Chicago Drive). The freeway passes to the south side of Hudsonville and intersects A-37. About past Hudsonville, the trunkline has an interchange with M-6, a freeway that runs along the south side of the Grand Rapids area. Just past this interchange, the freeway crosses into Kent County at the Kenowa Avenue overpass. Now in the city of Grandville, I-196 turns northward to run parallel to the county line. The freeway has an interchange for 44th Street, which provides access to the RiverTown Crossings
RiverTown Crossings is a two-story enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Grandville, Michigan. It has four anchors: Macy's, Kohl's, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods with two vacant anchors last occupied by Younkers and Sears.
History Desig ...
mall and other retail and restaurant establishments in the area. At exit 69, I-196 crosses Chicago Drive and the rail line and turns northeasterly next to Jenison, an unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
opposite the Kent–Ottawa county line. The Ford Freeway name is now prominently used on the freeway signage as I-196 follows a section of the Grand River. Past the interchange for M-11 (28th Street), the freeway crosses into the suburb of Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
.
In Wyoming, the freeway runs along the river, passing Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...
on the opposite banks in Walker
Walker or The Walker may refer to:
People
* Walker (given name)
*Walker (surname)
* Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer
Places
In the United States
*Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County
*Walker, Mono County, California ...
and Hopewell Indian Mounds Park on the near banks. To the south of the freeway, the business spur for Wyoming and Grand Rapids departs to follow Chicago Drive near an industrial area. After the interchange for Market Avenue, I-196 crosses the Grand River and enters the city of Grand Rapids. The freeway meanders northward past the transmission antennas for radio stations WJRW
WJRW (1340 AM) – branded as The Ticket – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Owned by Cumulus Media, WJRW is the Grand Rapids affiliate for CBS Sports Radio ...
and WYHA
WYHA (102.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting the Bible Broadcasting Network in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States.
History
Originally WFUR-FM and the sister station to WFUR, the station was constructed on the AM tower site in 1960. The pr ...
and around the west side of the John Ball Zoological Garden
John Ball Zoological Garden is an urban park located on the west side of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The John Ball Zoo is situated on the ravines and bluffs along the west edge of the park.
The zoo houses more than 2,400 in ...
. The trunkline has an interchange with M-45 (Lake Michigan Drive) on the north side of the zoo before I-196 runs downhill turning eastward.
At the bottom of the hill, I-196 enters the urban core of Grand Rapids. The freeway runs eastward through residential neighborhoods on the city's west side as it approaches the interchange with US 131. This complex structure is adjacent to the Grand River north of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum is the Presidential library system, presidential museum and burial place of Gerald Ford, the List of presidents of the United States, 38th president of the United States (1974–1977), and his wife Betty Fo ...
. The carriageway
A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...
s for I-196 run through the interchange on different levels, with the eastbound traffic carried down near river level and the westbound lanes above the crisscrossing carriageways of US 131's freeway. I-196 crosses the river on the opposite side of the interchange and both directions return to the same level. The freeway picks up an additional lane at this point as the median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
is replaced by a concrete barrier.[
As the freeway runs eastward, it passes the area of Grand Rapids known as the " Medical Mile", a district anchored by the ]Van Andel Institute
Van Andel Institute (VAI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit biomedical research and science education organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan. VAI was founded by Jay and Betty Van Andel in 1996.
The institute's research focuses on cancer epigenetics a ...
, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital
The Helen DeVos Children's Hospital (HDCH) is a nationally ranked, freestanding, 241-bed, pediatric acute care children's hospital located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Me ...
, a campus of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
The Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSUCHM) is an academic division of Michigan State University (MSU), and grants the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. CHM was founded in 1964 as the first community-integrated medical school ...
and the Butterworth Hospital campus of Spectrum Health. The Ford Freeway jogs slightly to the northeast as it crosses a line of the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad
The Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad is a railroad in western Michigan, United States. The line runs east–west through Grand Rapids, Michigan to Lowell. Its of trackage ends at the Saint Mary's Siding, where it meets the Coopersville and Marne ...
[ between College and Eastern avenues. It then passes to the south of the office buildings that house the Kent County Health Department, the Sheriff's Department and the animal shelter. A little over a mile and a quarter (2.0 km) east of those offices, I-196 meets its parent highway, I-96 on the east side of the city. This interchange marks the eastern terminus of the Ford Freeway and I-196.][
]
History
Previous designation
In the first tentative Interstate numbering plans, the freeways in Michigan now numbered I-96 and I-196 were supposed to be part of the I-94 corridor, and the freeway between Muskegon and Grand Rapids was to be I-94N. Later, the initial approvals by the federal government routed I-96 from Benton Harbor north to Grand Rapids and then east to Detroit, and I-196 was the spur route from Grand Rapids to Muskegon. The first segment of freeway built was a relocated section of US 16 near Coopersville and Marne Marne can refer to:
Places France
*Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine
*Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river
* La Marne, a commune in western France
*Marne, a legislative constituency (France)
Nethe ...
. The freeway opened at the end of 1957 or in early 1958, and the first markers for I-196 were erected in 1959.[ The full Grand Rapids–Muskegon I-196 freeway was completed and opened to traffic in December 1962, connecting to an I-96 freeway that led east toward ]Lansing
Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...
; the US 16 corridor was a continuous freeway with two different Interstate designations. Before the Grand Rapids–Benton Harbor segment was completed, the Michigan State Highway Department
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate ...
(MSHD), predecessor to the modern MDOT, petitioned federal highway officials to switch the Interstate designations west of Grand Rapids. Permission for this switch was granted in 1963, and the signs were changed in January 1964. Consideration was also made to name the Grand Rapids–Benton Harbor freeway I-67
In the United States, future Interstate Highways include proposals to establish new mainline (one- and two-digit) routes to the Interstate Highway System. Excluded from this article are auxiliary Interstate Highways (designated by three-digit n ...
. The previously completed I-196 was redesignated as an extension of I-96, and the completed freeway segments southwest of Grand Rapids were redesignated I-196; I-67 was rejected by the American Association of State Highway Officials
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction throughout the United St ...
.[
]
Current designation
In August 1963, a section of freeway along US 31 was opened between I-94 and South Haven. This section was originally designated as part of I-96/US 31. After the designation switch later in 1963,[ an additional section was opened from South Haven to Holland as I-196.] An additional section of freeway was opened between Grandville through downtown Grand Rapids to meet I-96 at the end of 1964. M-21 M21 or M-21 may refer to:
Transportation
* M21 (New York City bus), a New York City Bus route in Manhattan
* M-21 highway (Michigan), a road connecting Flint and Grand Rapids
* M21 (East London), a Metropolitan Route in East London, South Africa
...
was moved to the freeway from its previous surface-street routing. The final link in the freeway was completed in November 1974 along the Holland–Grandville segment, completing I-196 for a second time. At the same time, M-21 was removed from the freeway, truncating that highway designation to end in Grand Rapids.
In 2009, access to Jenison was improved by the addition of a partial interchange with Baldwin Street.[ The section through downtown Grand Rapids east of the Grand River was rebuilt during 2010 in a project MDOT dubbed the "Fix on I-196". The project added a third travel lane in each direction with weave-merge lanes between interchanges and rebuilt several of the overpasses in the area.] In 2016, the sections of I-196 that run concurrently with US 31 north of the M-63 interchange, except between the ends of the business loop at South Haven were designated as part of the West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway The West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway is a Pure Michigan Byway on the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan that follows several different highways, most notably Interstate 94 (I-94), I-196 and US Highway 31 (US 31) an ...
.
Exit list
Business routes
There are currently three business loops (BL I-196) and one business spur (BS I-196) along I-196. A BS I-196 in Muskegon was designated along what is now Bus. US 31 before the Muskegon–Grand Rapids freeway was redesignated I-96.[
]
South Haven
Business Loop I-196 (BL I-196) is a loop that runs in South Haven for . The loop begins at exit 18 on I-196/US 31 and runs due north along La Grange Street. It then turns onto Phillips Street and merges into Broadway Street. BL I-196 follows Phoenix Street eastward where the trunkline ends at exit 20 on I-196. The entire length is a part of the LMCT.[ A bypass of downtown was built during World War II; the former route of US 31 through downtown was designated Bus. US 31 at that time.] When I-196 was built outside of South Haven in 1963, the former US 31 bypass was redesignated BL I-196. In 1972, the loop was shifted to follow the pre-war routing through downtown. In 2016, all of the business loop was designated as part of the West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway The West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway is a Pure Michigan Byway on the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan that follows several different highways, most notably Interstate 94 (I-94), I-196 and US Highway 31 (US 31) an ...
.[
Major intersections]
Holland
Business Loop I-196 (BL I-196) is a loop that runs for in Holland and Zeeland. The loop starts at a connection with I-196/US 31 at exit 44 and continues concurrently along the freeway into Holland. BL I-196/US 31 has an interchange for A-2
A2, A02, A002, A², A.II or A-2 may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* British NVC community A2 (Lemna minor community), a plant community
* A2, the second anal vein in the Comstock-Needham system of insect wing segment naming
Genes and proteins
* ...
(Blue Star Highway) and Washington Avenue before the freeway ends in the southern reaches of Holland. The trunkline then runs as a divided highway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
northward, bypassing downtown Holland to the east and intersecting M-40. Northeast of downtown, BL I-196 leaves US 31 and the LMCT at an interchange to follow an expressway
Expressway may refer to:
* Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic.
* Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road.
*Expressway, the fictional s ...
along the route of Chicago Drive. The loop follows this expressway through Zeeland and back out to I-196 at exit 55.[
The loop was created in 1974 when I-196 was completed south of the city of Holland. From that point, the old route of M-21 inside the cities to US 31 was redesignated as a business loop of I-196 with the state taking control of Washington Avenue to the downtown area. Then from downtown looping back up to Chicago Drive, the business loop used the old M-21.][ Along Washington Avenue and Chicago Drive between junctions with US 31, the highway bore a concurrent Bus. US 31 designation. The concurrent trunkline inside the downtown area of Holland was transferred to the City of Holland in 2005, and BL I-196 was rerouted to follow US 31.] In 2016, the section of the business loop that runs concurrently with US 31 was designated as part of the West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway The West Michigan Pike Pure Michigan Byway is a Pure Michigan Byway on the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan that follows several different highways, most notably Interstate 94 (I-94), I-196 and US Highway 31 (US 31) an ...
.[
Major intersections]
Wyoming
Business Spur I-196 (BS I-196) is a spur that serves the Godfrey–Lee area of Wyoming, Michigan. It starts at the partial interchange for exit 72 on I-196 and then moves onto the surface street Chicago Drive for the majority of the distance in Wyoming, running through an industrial area. After about a mile (1.6 km), the highway runs through residential areas. Upon reaching the Grand Rapids city limits, it ends at Cesar E Chavez Avenue. Its total length is . It can be accessed only from eastbound I-196 on the western end.
In 1953, the state highway department completed enough of the Grand Rapids beltline to reroute M-21 to it. The former routing of M-21 was then redesignated Bus. M-21. With the completion of I-196 from Holland to Grand Rapids in 1974, the highway was truncated to run between I-196 and US 131 and renamed BS I-196. In December 2017, it was shortened further to end at the Grand Rapids city limits at the intersection between Chicago Drive and Clyde Park Avenue when the remainder of the trunkline along Grandville Avenue and Franklin Street was turned over to local control.
Major intersections
See also
*
Notes
References
External links
;Mainline
*
I-196
at Michigan Highways
at AARoad's Interstate Guide
at Kurumi.com
;Business routes
*
at Michigan Highways
*
at Michigan Highways
*
at Michigan Highways
{{DEFAULTSORT:I196
96-1
96-1
1
U.S. Route 31
Lake Michigan Circle Tour
Transportation in Berrien County, Michigan
Transportation in Van Buren County, Michigan
Transportation in Allegan County, Michigan
Transportation in Ottawa County, Michigan
Transportation in Kent County, Michigan