Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning July 2006 » Planning and location of I-696 « Previous Next »
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Focusonthed
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Username: Focusonthed

Post Number: 266
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 209.220.229.254
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 4:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Does anyone remember how the location of I-696 was chosen? When it was first built in '62 and then not finished until '89, development was already well past I-696...it seems like with 8 Mile Road so close, it could have been beneficial to build 696 further out. Perhaps hindsight is 20/20.

I am far too young to remember the planning process, so I was curious.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3910
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 5:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Read the history and the involvement of Irving Rubin who brokered deals with the Oak Park Jewish community for those three long overpasses and the route around the Detroit Zoo. Don't want to disturb the Jews or animals on Shabbos.

Very good feature article in tabloid format in Detroit News back when the road opened.

jjaba, Westside Bar Mitzvah Bukkor.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 380
Registered: 12-2005
Posted From: 129.9.163.234
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 5:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I-696 (or a freeway running roughly that route from east to west) appeared on a 1951 Detroit-area master plan.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3913
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 5:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes Packman, and at the time, that was way out in the Toolies.

The Jews still lived on Dexter, Linwood, 12th Street, Chicago Blvd., Boston-Edison, essentially from Woodward and Clairmont to W. Seven Mile and Greenfield.

Everything past W. 8 Mile Rd. was Yeminsville.

jjaba.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2611
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.michiganhighways.or g/listings/MichHwys250-696.htm l
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Huggybear
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Username: Huggybear

Post Number: 235
Registered: 08-2005
Posted From: 70.236.160.161
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The short answer was that it was planned sometime in the 1950s and 60s and due to the magic of condemnation proceedings, the last piece (between I-75 and Telegraph Road) was not finished until 1989-1990.

Davison was the I-696 that was never built - had it continued as a freeway along its entire path, it would have connected Southfield Freeway (just north of the I-96 interchange) to I-94 near Grosse Pointe.

(Message edited by Huggybear on June 16, 2006)
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3925
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's right, Davison Ditch, the expressway to nowhere on the Eastside. In olden days, it was an active W. Davison St. to Wyoming.

jjaba.
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Focusonthed
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Username: Focusonthed

Post Number: 267
Registered: 02-2006
Posted From: 24.192.25.47
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No, I know the construction history.

I just don't know why it is where it is. Why not further out? Development was already far past 10/11 mile in the '50s.
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3930
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Because W. 10 Mile Rd. was a huge bottleneck mess.
People were sick and tired of waiting in traffic morning noon and night.
jjaba.
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Fury13
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Username: Fury13

Post Number: 1120
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 6:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember my father being so angry when the years dragged on without 696 being completed through the middle. He would regularly curse the fact that a few people in Pleasant Ridge/Oak Park were holding up "progress" and weren't letting the freeway be finished.
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Harsensis
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Username: Harsensis

Post Number: 58
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 71.227.102.82
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 7:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember sledding down the side of 696 and stopping at the center divider between Gratoit and I-94 in the late 70's. Lots of fun!
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3931
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 7:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MikeM, your hot link tells about I-696 construction history without any mention of the 20 yrs. of tumult associated with the Jewish community nor angst regarding the Detroit Zoo animals. The article also is devoid of a discussion about the 3 huge tunnels put in to keep and observe the Sabbath.

There is a lot of social history that should be posted.

jjaba.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 447
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 35.12.23.193
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 7:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There's a book entitled "A Planning and Engineering Analysis of the Location and Design Alternatives Considered: Interstate 696," published in June, 1963 by the Michigan State Highway Dept. It should answer most of your questions. Several alignments along 11 and 10 Mile are discussed. The one ultimately chosen was "10 Mile Alternate E." The MSU Library has a copy of this book. Ironically, I have it checked out now...
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3934
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 7:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Burnsie, read us some items about the Detroit Zoo and the Jewish problem.
jjaba.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 449
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 35.12.21.72
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 11:28 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There isn’t one word about the Jewish community in the I-696 book. Only that the alignment options were selected to avoid if possible "churches, schools, institutions, public buildings and facilities." The majority of the text focuses on evolving traffic needs and how I-696 will help them.

An alignment option that would have shaved off the southern edge of the Zoo with a double-deck freeway was discussed and ruled out because of greater cost and negative effect on the Zoo.

In Pleasant Ridge, "One hundred twenty-four residential, one public, one industrial and eight commercial buildings would be taken by the Ten Mile E alternative." But then it claims "the alignment…does not affect any elementary attendance areas or neighborhood units." ?!

Interestingly, original plans called for a Ridge Rd. overpass, which was never built.

Some words from the book that are a hoot today:

"The entire project is scheduled to be complete and open to traffic by 1972." (actually finished Dec. 1989)

"Within metropolitan areas, freeways…encourage orderly community development by setting up basic land use and transportation patterns. Freeways, properly planned, can have a beneficial effect on land use, land values, employment and commuting patterns, taxes, schools, and every other aspect of life within their zone of influence...By removing through traffic from shopping streets, freeways aid business sections of cities.

"Plans for urban freeways must be developed with careful consideration of the relationship of the freeway to the form, composition and function of the urban area through which it will pass."
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Bob
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Username: Bob

Post Number: 1029
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 1:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ironically there were lots of planned freeways that were never built. Including The Mound Road Freeway, which had the interchange built at 696, and the northern part of the freeway built (todays M-53 Van Dyke Expressway north of 18 MIle Road). The Mound Road 18 1/2 Mile Roundabout was the connector that was finally built, that helps Mound Road route work as it was intended. There was also lots of talk about building a freeway downriver that connects 275 and 75 through Taylor area, aroudn where Telegraph and 75 have the connector, but that never came to be either.
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Rustic
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Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2565
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 71.234.183.131
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 1:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It could not go into 8 mile because it would displace the existing road which was still needed as a major thoroughfare. 10 and 11 mile rd were relatively minor.

What is suprising to me is that the Davison freeway was never completed from Jeffries to the Lodge
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Gistok
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Username: Gistok

Post Number: 2318
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 4.229.72.21
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 1:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Huggybear, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the route of the Davison Freeway. It was supposed to follow the route of Davison Street until where it connect to the Jeffries (where it went from local only to local/express) at Davison Street exit.

On the east side you are correct. It was supposed to follow Davison and crossover to Conner, where it would somehow connect to I-94 at the Conner Ave. exit. That stretch of Conner between Gratiot and I-94 was already cleared for a freeway. And the Conner St. exit is very unique compared to other I-94 exits.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 451
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 35.8.218.198
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 3:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The M-53 freeway extension to downtown is projected in the I-696 book.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1249
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.233
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 4:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikem posted a thread called Detroit Expressway Planning circa 1945 back in April 2005, with all sorts of maps for various proposals.

https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/36206/43221.html?1114643 059
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3939
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 4:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

From as far back as the 1950s, when Detroit Expressway madness started, until 1979, I-696 was in controversy, litigation, arbitration, negotiation, and finally, mitigation with the Oak Park, Michigan Orthodox Jewish community.

A coalition of Orthodox Rabbis represented 19 synagogues, 9 Jewish religious schools, a Jewish Community Center, a Jewish Old Folks High Rise, and 20 Jewish-related businesses in the I-696 corridor.

Plus, the above, tumult was caused as the proposed route was to clip off the Southern end of the Detroit Zoo. Oy veyesmere, upset the animals and Jews and you got a toxic stew on a hot fire.

The Rabbis convinced the engineers, planners, and others wise to go for mitigation and this is what was built.

Although the Orthodox Jews live in an area of 4 square miles, the highway was built 20 miles long, affecting them along the route. The highway bisects the Jewish community and Jews walk from home to services and facilities. On Shabbos (Saturday, a day of rest), they really walk.

So, "pedestrian sensitive mitigation" was built into the I-696 design. Continuous sidewalks would cross I-696, noise walls would be installed, noise buffers are built, pedestrian bridges with wide deck parks, active and inactive recreation is placed on top of the freeway. Landscaping hides the roadway in places.

When driving the I-696 East and West of Greenfield Rd. you go through the longest tunnels legal without having to heat them. These tunnels are for Jewish mitigation at a cost unimaginable and historic in urban freeway mitigation.

If you are interested, exit the highway sometime, park your ride, and walk in the area of the bridge-parks. You'll learn about the community. Going there on a Saturday when people are going to synagogue might be a treat. Do not take pictures nor drive in the neighborhood very much. Orthodox Jews want peace and quiet.

A man named Irv Rubin of the Mich. Dept of Highways was the main guy who worked with the community. He is credited with working out solutions.

jjaba.
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 452
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 35.12.18.241
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 5:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Indeed, controversy extended well past 1979. A June 1983 Free Press article states that a U.S. District Judge would hold a hearing to decide if the state must stop clearing land for 696. The suit was filed on behalf of "several area residents and businesses, three Orthodox synagogues and two municipalities, Lathrup Village and Pleasant Ridge."

I'm just old enough to remember dad turning right from Ridge Rd. onto 10 Mile after trips to my grandparents' house in PR.
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Mikeydbn
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Username: Mikeydbn

Post Number: 316
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 68.41.96.170
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 9:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF 8&ll=42.47656,-83.193541&spn=0 .005539,0.010064&t=k&om=1
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Jjaba
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Username: Jjaba

Post Number: 3944
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 67.171.136.201
Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2006 - 12:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's right Burnsie. They finally opened I-696 in 1989. That's the same year of the break-up of the Soviet Union. There were celebrations all over the place and your parents could drive fast again.

jjaba.

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