Interstate 475 (I-475) is a north–south

auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a subset of highways within the United States' Interstate Highway System. The 323 auxiliary routes generally fall into three types: spur routes, which connect to or i ...

in the US state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. I-475 is a

bypass route A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, to improve road safety and as replacement ...

that serves the downtown area of

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

while its parent,

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end ...

, passes through the west side of the city. I-475 starts southwest of

Grand Blanc Grand Blanc is a city in Genesee County, Michigan, Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and a suburb of Flint, Michigan, Flint. The population was 7,784 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 US Census. It is part of the Flint metrop ...

and runs through suburbs of Flint before passing through downtown. There, it intersects

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canada–United States border, Canadian border in Po ...

and crosses the Flint River. The freeway turns westerly to connect back to I-75 north of Flint near Mount Morris. This component freeway of the State Trunkline Highway System was planned in the 1950s and built in the 1970s. The trunkline was first named the Buick Freeway to honor

David Dunbar Buick David Dunbar Buick (September 17, 1854 – March 5, 1929) was a Scottish-born American inventor, widely known for founding the Buick Motor Company. He headed this company and its predecessor from 1899–1906, thereby helping to create one ...

's contributions to Flint's early automotive industry as founder of

Buick Motor Company Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobile brands and was the company that established General Motors ...

. I-475 was renamed in 1981 the UAW Freeway, honoring the

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

, a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

which was active in Flint. At the same time, the name of I-69 in Flint was changed from the "Chevrolet Freeway" to the "Chevrolet-Buick Freeway". Since 2001, I-475 has borne both the UAW and Buick names officially.

Route description

I-475 starts at a partial interchange with I-75 in Grand Blanc Township, southwest of Grand Blanc. From this start at exit 111, the freeway proceeds northward through a suburban residential area next to a baseball field complex. As I-475 continues northward, it has an interchange with Hill Road near the Crestwood Memorial Gardens cemetery and several commercial properties. North of the Maple Avenue underpass, the freeway crosses into the suburb of Burton where it runs for about before crossing into the city of Flint. The freeway then curves around to the northeast near Thread Lake, crossing over Saginaw Street. I-475 follows the western shore of the lake as it turns northward to run into downtown Flint. South of the four-level

stack interchange A directional interchange, colloquially known as a stack interchange, is a type of grade-separated junction between two controlled-access highways that allows for free-flowing movement to and from all directions of traffic. These interchanges e ...

with

, I-475 crosses over a line of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

. North of this interchange, the freeway runs more northwesterly as it skirts the eastern edge of downtown Flint. Near the campus of the

University of Michigan–Flint The University of Michigan–Flint (UM-Flint) is a public university in Flint, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1956 as the Flint Senior College, it was initially established as a remote branch of the University of Michigan, offering upper-d ...

, I-475 curves to run parallel to the Flint River before crossing it next to an industrial area. There is an interchange complex on the northwest side of the river that provides access to Stewart Avenue and M-54 (Dort Highway). I-475 then runs north and northwesterly parallel to a rail line operated by Lake State Railway. North of Carpenter Road, the freeway exits the city of Flint and enters Genesee Township. The Interstate turns to the west to cross into Mount Morris Township before meeting an interchange for Saginaw Street. There is one more interchange for Clio Road before I-475 terminates at a full interchange at exit 125 on I-75 and US Highway 23 (US 23). I-475 is maintained by the

Michigan Department of Transportation The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interst ...

(MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. According to the department's surveys in 2010, the highest traffic levels along I-475 were the 57,400 vehicles on average daily north of the I-69 interchange in Flint; the lowest counts were the 18,637 vehicles per day west of the Clio Road interchange. As an Interstate Highway, I-475 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.

History

A freeway along the I-475 corridor was proposed in the 1950s. The 1955 '' General Location of National System of Interstate Highways'', an early proposal for what would become the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

, contained an inset of the proposed freeways in and around the Flint area, including a loop route freeway near the downtown area. Designated as part of the Interstate Highway System in 1957, I-475 construction was funded by the federal government. I-475 was first opened to traffic in the early 1970s. The first section was built between

/ US 10 northward to M-21/ M-78. The second section was built from I-75/US 10/ US 23 to Business M-54 (Bus M-54) along the north side of town. These two sections were opened on November 9, 1973, and September 26, 1974, respectively. The final section was opened between them in 1981.

Memorial highway designations

I-475 has carried two different memorial highway designations in its history, the Buick Freeway and the UAW Freeway.

was a Scottish-born immigrant who moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

with his parents at the age of two in 1856–1857. He quit school to supplement the family's income after his father's 1860 death. In the 1880s, he was a plumbing supplier in the Detroit area, inventing a process that created a cheaper white bathtub. Buick produced a method for permanently coating

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

with

vitreous enamel Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...

, which allowed the production of white baths at lower cost. He later sold his plumbing business and the patents to American Standard. Using the profits from this sale, Buick started working on gasoline engines, and later automobiles. He eventually moved his operations from Detroit to the Flint Wagon Works. William C. Durant managed the fledgling Buick Manufacturing Company, making it the number one car-building company in the country by 1908. Durant later built on the foundation of Buick's company to create

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

. In honor of Buick's contributions to Flint's manufacturing base, the Flint City Commission proposed naming I-475 after Buick. The freeway passed by the city's Buick plant and many of the employees would use the new freeway on their commutes to work. The

Michigan Legislature The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of the Senate (the upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Article IV of the Michigan Con ...

passed Concurrent Resolution 22 in 1969 to add the name. The

(UAW) was founded in Detroit on August 26, 1935. The

struggled to gain members until the

Flint sit-down strike The 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike, also known as the General Motors sit-down strike, or the great GM sit-down strike, was a sitdown strike at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan, United States. It changed the United Automobile Worke ...

in 1937. The strike started on December 30, 1936, when workers at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 stopped loading tool dies on the night shift, locking themselves into the plant. The dies were destined for shipment to plants where union activity was much weaker than the UAW-organized plants in Flint. On January 3, 1937, workers at the plant sat down on the job; Fisher Plant No. 2 later joined in the sit-down strike. The heat was shut off at the plants, and, on January 11, food deliveries were stopped, sparking a riot. Governor

Frank Murphy William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Michigan. He was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving ...

mobilized 4,000

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

troops to keep peace at the plants. A second riot occurred at Chevrolet Plant No. 4 on February 1. The National Guard troops surrounded the 12 striking plants in Flint, but the governor never ordered them into action. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

encouraged the two parties to sit down once more, and an agreement was signed, recognizing the UAW in the 17 striking plants across the country. A local politician wanted to honor not just the automotive pioneers in Flint but the workers that worked in the plants. Since the UAW came to maturity in Flint as a result of the strikes, it was the appropriate location for a memorial highway designation. In 1980, the Michigan Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution 583, renaming Flint's east–west freeway (

) the "Chevrolet–Buick Freeway" and I-475 the "UAW Freeway". I-475 was dedicated with its new name on Labor Day 1981.. Public Act 142 of 2001 consolidated the memorial highway designations of the state. In passing this act, the Michigan Legislature expanded the Chevrolet–Buick Freeway to encompass all of I-69 in Genesee County; the act also restored Buick's name to I-475.

Future

The Genesee County Board of Commissioners has proposed to MDOT that I-475 should be connected to US 23 in the southern part of Genesee County. The board approved a study to investigate the economic impact of such an extension. The study will also examine how such an extension will impact an existing intermodal transportation hub at

Bishop International Airport Bishop International Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport in Flint, Michigan, United States. It is named after banker and General Motors board member Arthur Giles Bishop (April 12, 1851 – January 22, 1944), who donated 220 a ...

and a rail terminal being built at the former Buick City complex. Proposals for the freeway connection have been around since the late 1990s, but they were indefinitely postponed in 2011.

Exit list

References

External links

I-475
at Michigan Highways

at Kurumi

at the Interstate Guide on AARoads
Michigan - Interstate 475 North - Mile Marker 0 to 10
at YouTube
Michigan - Interstate 475 North - Mile Marker 10 to 17
at YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:I475 75-4 Michigan 75-4 4 Michigan Transportation in Genesee County, Michigan