Portal:Michigan highways/Selected article/October 2011

Reassurance marker at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Cedar Street

The Capitol Loop that runs through Lansing was commissioned on October 13, 1989. It forms a loop route off Interstate 496 (I-496) through downtown near the Michigan State Capitol complex. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has labeled it Capitol Loop I-496 or CL I-496 on some maps. However, unlike other highways in Michigan, it has unique reassurance markers—the signs that serve as regular reminders of the name and number of the highway. It is known internally at MDOT as Connector 496 for inventory purposes. The route follows a series of one-way and two-way streets through downtown Lansing, directing traffic downtown to government buildings. Unlike the other streets downtown, the seven streets comprising the Capitol Loop are under state maintenance and jurisdiction.

The loop was originally proposed in 1986 as part of a downtown revitalization effort. Almost from the beginning before the highway was commissioned, it was affected by controversial proposals. Several suggestions by community leaders to rename city streets in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. were rejected. Meetings beginning in 1999 dealt with rebuilding the streets as part of a downtown beautification project. The project was delayed to accommodate replacing the sewer system under the roadway at the same time. The downtown business community protested the original scope of construction, and the Lansing City Council threatened to cancel the project. In the end, the scope of the project was reduced in scale, and the project was completed in 2005, three months ahead of schedule. (more...)

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