Interstate 75 in Michigan - Freeway Names

Freeway Names

I-75 has five named segments in Michigan. The southernmost section from the state line north to the Detroit area is the Detroit–Toledo Expressway. The segment through southern and central Detroit is known as the Fisher Freeway. It was dedicated on September 17, 1970, to the Fisher Brothers, who founded Fisher Body later a part of General Motors. After the curve in downtown Detroit, I-75 follows the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway northward. That segment is named for Walter P. Chrysler, founder of Chrysler. The name was chosen by the Detroit Common Council on November 6, 1957, and codified in state law in 1990; the state definition for the name places the northern end of the designation at the Oakland–Genesee county line.

Officially, the entire length of I-75 in Michigan is the American Legion Memorial Highway. As a practical matter, the southernmost segments retain their other names. The American Legion was honored with the designation in 1969 in a state law that required private interests to finance the signage. Public Act 174 of 1984 redesignated I-75 in honor of the group and placed responsibility for signage in MDOT's hands. Two other segments near the Straits of Mackinac were named in 1976 for figures instrumental in the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. From the Cheboygan–Otsego county line north to the bridge, I-75 was named for G. Mennen Williams, the former governor once called "Michigan's Politician of the Century" in the press. The section in Mackinac County from the northern end of the Mackinac Bridge was also named for Prentiss M. Brown, the former Congressman and Senator who served on the Mackinac Bridge Authority Board until his death in 1971.