Grand River Avenue is one of the principal pre-Interstate roads in the state of Michigan. The modern road cuts across the lower peninsula in a east-to-west fashion from Detroit to Grand Rapids.
Geography
Grand River (not to be confused with the Grand River, which it parallels for much its route,) starts in the very heart of downtown Detroit, where it intersects Washington Boulevard. It cuts diagonally across the city to Farmington. It continues through Novi, Brighton, Howell, Fowlerville, Webberville, Williamston, and Okemos.
The highway becomes a wide tree-lined boulevard when it reaches East Lansing, where it serves as dividing line between the Michigan State University campus and the rest of the city. Here it is lined with many college-oriented businesses, such as bars, tanning salons, coffee shops, head shops, and bookstores. It then runs northwest to Lansing's Old Town, where it manages to intersect itself before heading up to the Lansing Capital City Airport.
From Lansing, Grand River passes through Eagle and Portland before it gets to Grand Rapids, where it turns into Cascade Road.
History
White Michiganders set about converting various Indian trails into the Lansing-Howell Plank Road soon the road was extended to Lansing to Detroit. The Lansing-Detroit Plank Road eventually evolved into the modern Grand River Avenue. With the creation of the U.S. Highway System, Grand River became part of US-16. This lasted until the creation of the Interstate Highway System, when Grand River was paralleled by I-96. US-16 was decommisioned, and the portion of Grand River from Webberville to Lansing became part of Michigan State Route 43 (M-43). Today Grand River Avenue remains the main street of over a dozen Michigan cities, and a scenic route in one of the state's most populated corridors.
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