text: interstate 275 ( michigan ) interstate 275 ( i - 275 ) in the us state of michigan is an interstate highway that functions as a western bypass of the detroit metropolitan area . the michigan department of transportation ( mdot ) maintains it as a component of the larger state trunkline highway system . the freeway runs through the western suburbs near detroit metropolitan wayne county airport . along its routing , i - 275 crosses several rivers and rail lines in the area . the southern terminus is the interchange with i - 75 near newport , northeast of monroe . mdot considers the interstate to run to an interchange with i - 96 , i - 696 and m - 5 on the farmington hills – novi city line , running concurrently with i - 96 for about five miles ( 8 . 0 km ) . this gives a total length of about 35 . 03 miles ( 56 . 38 km ) , and signage erected by mdot along the freeway reflects this definition . according to the federal highway administration ( fhwa ) , the length is 29 . 97 miles ( 48 . 23 km ) because that agency considers i - 275 to end at the junction with i - 96 and m - 14 along the boundary between livonia and plymouth township . all other map makers , like the american automobile association , rand mcnally and google maps follow mdot 's practice . a highway roughly parallel to the modern i - 275 was included in early planning maps for the interstate highway system in the 1950s . as plans developed through the 1960s and into the early 1970s , the freeway was to run from i - 75 near newport north to novi and connect back to i - 75 near davisburg . some plans in the 1970s had the northern novi – davisburg section numbered as a state highway m - 275 . the southern half of i - 275 was built in segments that were completed in january 1977 . later that month , the state canceled the northern section because of local opposition . a later attempt to revive the proposal failed in 1979 . additional plans to complete m - 275 through oakland county were kept on the drawing boards through the 1980s , but failed to materialize . m - 5 ( haggerty connector ) opened along part of the former i - 275 / m - 275 right - of - way between 1994 and 2000 . route description i - 275 begins at exit 20 along i - 75 in northeastern monroe county . the surrounding area is farmland and residential subdivisions in the adjacent frenchtown and berlin charter townships near the community of newport . the freeway angles to the northwest and crosses us highway 24 ( us 24 ) , which is also called telegraph road . after this interchange , i - 275 turns to the north , running east of carleton , crossing the canadian national railway and conrail shared assets lines north of exit 5 . at will carleton road , the trunkline crosses into wayne county . there it continues on a northerly path parallel to a csx transportation line through southern wayne county . the freeway crosses the huron river at south huron road , adjacent to willow metropark . in the city of romulus , i - 275 begins to take on a more suburban character when it passes the southwestern boundary of the detroit metropolitan wayne county airport . there is access to the south side of the airport signed at eureka road and to the north side at i - 94 . between these two interchanges , i - 275 begins to run to the northwest . past i - 94 , the highway crosses over the same csx line and a norfolk southern railway ( ns ) line and passes a campus of wayne county community college and the headquarters of the corporation , a major auto parts supplier spun off from ford motor corporation . near these two complexes , the freeway turns north again , running parallel and to the east of haggerty road . the freeway crosses over another ns railroad line also used by amtrak trains from chicago and pontiac , us 12 ( michigan avenue ) and m - 153 ( ford road ) in canton . i - 275 crosses the lower branch of the river rouge north of michigan avenue and the middle branch north of ford road it also crosses over the same csx line a third time . north of the middle branch of the river rouge in plymouth township , i - 275 crosses schoolcraft road and another csx line from detroit . the interchange with i - 96 ( jeffries freeway ) on the border between plymouth township and livonia is where the fhwa considers i - 275 to end as they do not not any overlap with i - 96 , however mdot continues the designation on maps and signage to run concurrently with i - 96 northward . i - 96 merges from the east on the jeffries freeway and turns north ; from the west , the m - 14 freeway merges and ends . at the time the freeway from this interchange northward to farmington hills was opened to traffic , it was dual signed as i - 96 / i - 275 , and the unbuilt segment of freeway from novi to davisburg that was to be either i - 275 or m - 275 was still an active proposal . i - 275 is shown running concurrently with i - 96 through livonia and farmington hills on mdot maps , and other map makers and mapping service providers such as the american automobile association , rand mcnally and google maps label their maps in accordance with mdot and not fhwa . north of the interchange with the jeffries freeway , the combined i - 96 / i - 275 curves to the east into livonia , running parallel to haggerty road and continuing through suburban areas . the freeway has interchanges with 6 mile and 7 mile roads in the northwest corner of livonia . i - 96 / i - 275 passes through an interchange with 8 mile road while crossing into oakland county entering the southwest corner of farmington hills . north of 10 mile road , i - 96 / i - 275 crosses grand river avenue . here the ramps start to connect with both directions of m - 5 , the start of eastbound i - 696 or the continuation of westbound i - 96 . mdot ends the i - 275 designation at this massive interchange . history original plans a north – south freeway was originally planned as an interstate highway allowing through traffic to bypass the city of detroit . this plan was included in the 1955 general location of national system of interstate highways ( yellow book ) , an early proposal for what would become the interstate highway system . the yellow book contained an inset of the proposed freeways in and around the detroit area including a north – south freeway east of the current i - 275 corridor . the 1958 numbering plan for michigan submitted by the state highway department had this route initially marked as i - 73 . william swanson in the mdot highway planning unit later stated that the department also planned to reverse the numbering of i - 75 and i - 275 between newport and davisburg ; i - 75 would have bypassed downtown detroit just as it bypassed downtown flint and downtown saginaw to the north , and the auxiliary number ( i - 275 ) would have been used on the freeway through downtown detroit . the present - day freeway was built in stages in the mid - 1970s . in 1974 , the state highway map of the time showed the highway under construction , but no parts completed . the first four miles ( 6 . 4 km ) of the freeway were shown opened to traffic from m - 153 ( ford road ) in canton to schoolcraft avenue ( just south of the i - 96 and m - 14 interchange ) in plymouth township by the start of 1975 . the segment between us 24 and i - 75 in monroe county was open as well . the second phase was completed in the latter half of 1976 , when i - 275 was extended north from schoolcraft avenue ( and the incomplete interchange with the future route of i - 96 ) to the i - 96 / i - 696 interchange in novi . then on january 14 , 1977 , the remaining 23 - mile ( 37 km ) section of i - 275 between us 24 in monroe county and m - 153 in canton township was opened to traffic , completing the current freeway . the final cost to build the i - 275 freeway was $ 145 million ( equivalent to $ 854 million in 2015 ) . cancellation of northern segment the michigan state highway commission canceled the northern section of the highway , originally planned to continue northward from novi to a point near davisburg and clarkston , on january 26 , 1977 , after it spent $ 1 . 6 million ( equivalent to $ 10 . 4 million in 2015 ) the year before purchasing land for the roadway . this northern section was not planned as an interstate highway at that time , bearing the designation m - 275 instead . opposition to construction came from various citizens ' groups and different levels of local government . additionally , both the detroit news and detroit free press opposed the project . the detroit city council , led by then - chairman carl levin , opposed the plan . levin said at the time , " at last i think people are waking up to the dangers of more and more expressways . at some point we 've got to say enough . and i think we 've reached it . " the us department of the interior reviewed the state 's environmental impact study of the project and stated that the project , " will cause irreparable damages on recreation lands , wetlands , surface waters and wildlife habitat . " the total project to link farmington hills with davisburg with the 24 - mile ( 39 km ) extension would have cost $ 69 . 5 million ( equivalent to $ 409 million in 2015 ) and saved drivers an estimated eight minutes off travel time around the city of detroit . i - 96 overlap the jeffries freeway project was in its final stages of construction in 1977 , linking the final 10 . 5 miles ( 16 . 9 km ) of i - 96 at m - 39 ( southfield freeway ) with the i - 275 freeway . after it was completed , i - 96 was routed to run concurrently with i - 275 between novi and plymouth township , and the segments of freeway through farmington and farmington hills that were to be part of i - 96 instead became part of an extended m - 102 . at the end of the 1970s , mdot took part in a fhwa - backed initiative called the positive guidance demonstration project , and the two agencies audited signage practices in the vicinity of the i - 96 / m - 37 and i - 296 / us 131 interchange in walker near grand rapids . mdot determined that usage of the i - 296 designation overlapping us 131 was " a potential source of confusion for motorists . " fhwa agreed with the department 's proposal to eliminate all signage and public map references to the designation in april 1979 . mdot then received formal permission from the american association of state highway and transportation officials ( aashto ) on october 13 , and from the fhwa on december 3 , 1979 , to remove the redundant highway designation from signage and most maps . following this program , the reflective systems unit at mdot reviewed the state of two- and three - way concurrencies along the highway system in michigan . they approached the department 's trunkline numbering committee and the district traffic and safety engineers on october 19 , 1982 , for proposals to reduce or eliminate the various overlapping designations to " avoid driver confusion and save funds " . included on the initial discussion report was the i - 96 / i - 275 concurrency with a request for comments by november 5 of that year . when the unit released its final recommendations on march 17 , 1983 , no changes were proposed regarding the i - 96 / i - 275 concurrency . other recommendations , such as removing us 2 and us 10 from overlaps with i - 75 were implemented in later in 1983 and in 1985 , respectively . new extension plan a least one transportation study in the early 1970s identified the highway north of novi as m - 275 . the oakland county road commission , local land developers , and local politicians supported building a highway along the route of m - 275 to open up the area for development . after the january 1977 cancelation of m - 275 as a full freeway , the state explored building the highway as a parkway instead . this parkway concept allowed at - grade intersections that would have not been permitted had the highway been built as a full freeway , and included more landscaping and less grade separation . in september 1977 , the state transportation commission ordered mdot to study alternatives to a freeway in the area , along with the possible widening of i - 94 and us 23 and the improvement of local roads to handle increased traffic caused by the absence of an extended i - 275 from the state 's freeway network . the canceled highway project was revisited by the state transportation commission in 1979 as m - 275 . the renewed interest came after a vote of local residents showed a desire for the road . the michigan department of state highways and transportation backed the proposal with the support of local officials around the highway and the highway lobby . the 22 - year - old proposal was deemed " necessary " by the department to alleviate highway congestion along other area highways . the department of the interior continued to oppose the highway on environmental grounds . m - 275 would have cut through dodge no. 4 state park in oakland county if completed . another factor that helped sink the project was the rising costs . estimates in 1979 placed a $ 100 million ( equivalent to $ 477 million in 2015 ) price tag on the project . despite funding increases for mdot by the state legislature , m - 275 languished on the drawing boards . new plans in 1983 had addressed several of the environmental concerns by moving interchanges and rerouting around wetlands . these plans even canceled an extension of northwestern highway ( then m - 4 , now part of m - 10 ) to pontiac trail and a connection with m - 275 . the state increased mdot 's budget by $ 602 million ( equivalent to $ 2 . 16 billion in 2015 ) , but left the m - 275 project off a priority list . the southeast michigan council of governments ( semcog ) continued to factor m - 275 into regional transportation planning forecasts . semcog 's position was that the location population that would be served by the new highway would rival 70 of michigan 's counties combined , yet there was no four - lane highways through the area . opponents cited urban sprawl , which semcog dismissed because the population was already in the area of the new highway . transportation planners at an april 24 , 1985 , meeting of the west bloomfield republicans said that the highway extension " would make sense " but mdot " is planning no new freeways and no major road construction " at the time . by the next month , mdot had relinquished ownership of right - of - way in west bloomfield township , ending any further progress at building the roadway . studies comparing the levels of traffic at various checkpoints along the existing i - 275 showed that the freeway was only handling half of its rated capacity . at 8 mile road , the freeway carried 57 , 000 vehicles in 1977 and 88 , 000 vehicles in 1984 . this compared to a 1986 projection of 133 , 000 vehicles daily . after many years of inactivity , further work began along this same route to relieve traffic congestion in the area , but the resulting highway was designated as a part of m - 5 rather than i - 275 or m - 275 . the first section of this freeway extension was opened in october 1994 . this extended a freeway from i - 275 's previous terminus at i - 96 / i - 696 north to 12 mile road . a plan enacted by then governor john engler in 1995 angered road officials when funding was diverted from county road commissions to help complete state highway projects like the m - 5 ( haggerty connector ) project . in 1999 , a second extension of m - 5 was completed to 14 mile road , but only as an expressway . the final two miles ( 3 . 2 km ) between 14 mile road and pontiac trail opened to traffic on november 1 , 2002 . bike trail mdot built a bike trail parallel to i - 275 in the mid - 1970s . this i - 275 bikeway was constructed as a reply to the 1970s energy crisis . since 2006 , the michigan trails & greenway alliance and mdot have been working to improve the bike trail . at the time of the alliance 's initial studies , the trail was overgrown with vegetation in locations . since a grand re - opening in 2011 , the bike path has been called the i - 275 metro trail . in the middle of 2015 , mdot completed reconstruction of the bike trail , resulting in a paved trail from a junction with the downriver linked greenways east – west trail near south huron road in huron township northward to 12 mile road in novi . exit list