National System of Interstate Highways Including All Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955, showed generalized plans for the locations of Interstate Highways as designated in 1955. This also included a highway in the US 16 corridor. The 1957 approval for the Interstate Highway System replaced the Grand Rapids–Detroit section of US 16 with a portion of Interstate 94 (I-94), with the remainder to be I-94N. MSHD submitted a recommended numbering plan for the Interstates in 1958 that showed I-96 following the US 16 corridor. When initially approved, the Muskegon–Grand Rapids segment of US 16 was to be numbered as I-196 while the remainder was part of I-96. Segments of the road were upgraded in 1956 between Coopersville and Marne, Portland and Eagle, and Brighton and Farmington. By 1962, freeway construction allowed motorists to travel between Muskegon and the Lansing area on a freeway, bypassing the old Grand River Avenue route. The final connection between Lansing and Brighton was completed in late 1962. At that time, the US 16 designation, which had been applied alongside the I-96 and I-196 designations, was decommissioned. Segments of the old highway were retained in the state highway system under different numbers. Sections through Portland, Lansing, Howell, Farmington and Detroit were given Business Loop (BL) or Business Spur (BS) I-96 designations. The section between Lansing and Webberville became part of an extended M-43. Other sections in the Detroit area became parts of M-102, M-5, or unsigned state highway. Post-Interstate era After US 16 was transferred to the new freeway, Grand River Avenue lost its state highway status along most of its length. Today the roadway remains the "Main Street" of over a dozen Michigan cities and a scenic route through one of the state's most populated corridors. In 1995, major reconstruction work along Grand River Avenue in East Lansing uncovered rotting logs, buried about below the present grade, that had been used as underlayment for the plank road surface in a low, swampy area. The logs had been in place for nearly 150 years. In 2004, the state transferred several blocks at the eastern end of Grand River Avenue to the City of Detroit. State trunkline control now ends at the corner of Grand River Avenue, Middle Street, and Cass Avenue. Community leaders in Lansing have proposed renaming a section of Grand River Avenue in Old Town Lansing for César Chávez, the Mexican-American