M-78 (Michigan Highway) - History

History

When the original state highway system was designated c. July 1, 1919, M-78 ran along a route similar that of today. It started north of Battle Creek at a junction with then M-79 and cut through the corner of Barry County to Bellevue, but it turned northeasterly to end at Charlotte at a junction with M-29. By 1927, M-78 was extended southward, replacing M-79 to the Indiana state line, connecting with State Road 9 (SR 9) south of Sturgis. At the same time, a northerly addition extended the highway concurrently along US Highway 27 (US 27) to Dewitt and then solo to a junction with M-47 near Pittsburg. The section north of Lansing was changed in 1929. The section from Dewitt Pittsburg was redesignated M-104, and M-78 was extended through East Lansing to Haslett. By 1936, the highway was extended all the way into Flint to end at M-21. Around the same time, a second routing through downtown Lansing for US 27/M-78 was designated along Capitol Avenue; the former route along Main, Kalamazoo and Larch streets and Grand Avenue was given the Truck M-78 designation.

In the latter half of 1941 or the beginning of 1942, a section of the concurrent M-78/M-86 was rerouted west of Colon in St. Joseph County. In 1950, the bridge across the Grand River on Main Street was completed; after completion, the mainline M-78 was routed over the bridge and up Larch Street, replacing Truck M-78 in the process. The former car-only route on Capitol Avenue was removed from the state highway system. By the middle of 1960, the first section of freeway along M-78 was opened in the Lennon area. The next year, the freeway had been extended as far southwest as Durand from the end at Lennon. By the start of 1962, M-78 was a freeway from Perry at the junction with M-47 all the way to Swartz Creek near Flint.

In 1963, the I-96 freeway was completed around the south and west sides of Lansing, and the I-496 freeway was completed north into downtown from I-96. M-78 was rerouted from the I-96/US 27 interchange southwest of Lansing east along I-96 and then north on I-496. From there, M-78 followed the one-way pairing of Homer and Howard streets from the northern end of the freeway up to the one-way couplet of Saginaw Street and Grand River Avenue, returning to its previous routing. The former route through downtown along US 27 was redesignated Business M-78 (BUS M-78) at the same time.

M-66 was extended southerly from Assyria through Battle Creek to the Indiana state line replacing sections of M-78 in 1965. The US 127 freeway was completed from Mason north to Lansing in 1966, adding the US 127 designation along the I-496/M-78 freeway. The next year, M-78's freeway was extended eastward to I-75/US 10/US 23 in Flint. The US 127/M-78 freeway was extended north of I-496 in 1969, and a discontinuous section of M-78 freeway east of Flint was completed around the same time frame. In 1970, the I-496 freeway was completed and the BUS M-78 designation was removed through Lansing. In 1972, the highway was rerouted to run east of Bellevue to Olivet instead of northeast to Charlotte. The next year, all of M-78 northeast of Olivet was removed when I-69 between Charlotte and I-96 southwest of Lansing was completed; this truncation produced the modern routing of M-78 in the state.