Michigan Drivers Have Been Puzzled For Decades by This Detroit Area Freeway

Millions of drivers in the Detroit area use Interstate 275 and many of them share the same question, 'Why does the highway signs point to Flint when I-275 doesn't go anywhere near Flint?'

It's an interesting question and one that delves into highway planning and local objections to freeway routing.

To start, let's take a look at what I-275 is today. The expressway branches off from I-75 near Monroe 20 miles north of the Michigan-Ohio border. The highway runs 35 miles through Detroit's western suburbs and ends at a complex interchange between I-96, I-696 and M-5. Because I-275 does not continue northward, drivers who were following the guide signs to Flint would need to either take I-96 west to US-23 or I-696 east to I-75 as both of those routes do make it to the Vehicle City.

READ MORE: Fully Explained - What's the Difference Between I-96 and I-196 in West Michigan?

However, at that junction, seen below, there is no longer any mention of Flint as the 'control cities' (roadgeek speak for the city called out on the big green interstate signs) are Lansing for I-96 and Port Huron for I-696.

I-275 should have continued north to meet up with I-75 near the Oakland/Genesee County line and complete a true bypass of the Detroit metro area by meeting with its parent interstate, however it was local opposition to the expressway in Oakland County that killed the route.

When the interstate system was first being imagined in the 1950s, the roadway that would become I-275 was indeed a complete expressway connecting I-75 south of Flint to north of Monroe without entering downtown Detroit. The northern end of the freeway was cancelled in the 1980s leaving roughly 24 miles unfinished and a significant gap in the state's expressway system.

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What remains the oddest choice by the Michigan Department of Transportation is to have Flint be the control city. A better, more accurate choice would have been something like a general 'Western Suburbs' or Romulus coming north from Monroe and Farmington Hills after Romulus.

But, that will remain just a fantasy and a dream as there is likely no pathway for I-275 to be completed in northwest Oakland County. The area of lakes and tony suburbs will remain under-highwayed and overtaxed on local roads as the exurb population grows in the region.