Talk:Interstate 96 Business (Farmington, Michigan)

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Based on my reading of information at the Michigan Highways site -- this article may be misnamed and might contain some inaccurate information.

1. According to the 1977 entry for I-96 the unsigned designation "Old I-96" is at the southeastern end of M-5, or the portion of Grand River Ave past exit 185 that had formerly been BS I-96.
2. According to the Notes section for M-5, this unsigned portion had an internal designation of "Old BS I-96".
3. According to this, the unsigned internal designation of "Old I-96" was the old route of US 16 through downtown Farmington
4. According to this, the designation "Old BS I-96" was the portion in Detroit.

I don't see any mention anywhere of an "Old BL I-96" designation. I suspect that 1 above should actually read "Old BS I-96", since that portion of Grand River Ave. was never ever designated as "I-96" and that would make it consistent with 2 and 4. However, I'm skeptical that the route through downtowm Farmington is designated as "Old I-96" since that also was never designated as I-96. I could believe "Old BL I-96" (which is what this article claims), but I don't see any support for that claim at Michigan Highways. This also lends support for the designation in Farmington being "Old BL I-96" and in Detroit as "Old BS I-96". older≠wiser 02:41, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

The simple answers are... that unsigned trunkline designations within MDOT have been known to vary over the years and sometimes are not set in stone and a bit of clarification was necessary on the Michigan Highways website. To that end:

1. The 1977 entry for I-96 has been clarified to note that the portion of Grand River from I-96 Exit 185 southeasterly into downtown Detroit has been designated "OLD BS I-96" since 1977. (Sorry 'bout that.)
2. No changes.
3. Yep—this is the fun one. I have two MDOT maps which label Grand River through downtown Farmington as "OLD I-96." Of course, this very well could have been an error on MDOT's part, but it also may not be since these unsigned designations are largely for internal purposes and need not make complete sense to the general public as signed designations (should) do.
4. Grand River from I-96 Exit 185 southeasterly is, as of June 2005 (and from an internal MDOT source), still referred to as "OLD BS I-96."

As to the discussion if the listing should be titled "OLD BL I-96" or "OLD I-96," that presents an interesting quandry. If, indeed, it is officially designated internally at MDOT as "OLD I-96," the title may not be correct. However, the last route designation this highway held was "BL I-96," so "OLD BL I-96" could very well be considered correct. Keep in mind that what one might consider an "official" designation for unsigned trunklines within MDOT is open to interpretation. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter... CBessert 04:38, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)