 The freeway was originally conceived in the 1960s . It took 32 years to approve , plan , finance , and build the freeway from the time that the state first authorized funding in 1972 to the time of the ribbon @-@ cutting ceremony in 2004 that opened the South Beltline to traffic . The project cost around $ 700 million or around $ 35 million per mile ( approximately $ 22 million per kilometer ) . Initial construction started in November 1997 , with the first phase opened in November 2001 . The full freeway was opened in November 2004 . The first phase of construction was completed in asphalt , while the second and third phases were built in concrete . The project was built with two firsts : the first single @-@ point urban interchange ( <unk> ; / <unk> / ) in Michigan , and a new technique to apply the pavement markings , <unk> them into the concrete to reduce the chance of a <unk> scraping them off . In advance of the opening of the freeway to traffic , the Michigan Department of Transportation ( MDOT ) allowed the public to walk or bike the South Beltline in an open @-@ house event called the " <unk> Shuffle " . 
