A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan
Le Roy Barnett
Priscilla Press
Every day people driving in and around Detroit pass over ribbons of concrete named Chrysler, Couzens, Fisher, Ford and Reuther. Motorists cruising the thoroughfares of Flint follow trunk lines designated Buick, Chevrolet, Don and UAW. Grand Rapids drivers travel along primary slabs of pavement called Ford, Wilson and Fulton. Most of us vaguely know who these individuals and entities are, but how did these roads come to bear their names?
Clearly, some people and organizations were once deemed highly worthy of recognition, as evidenced by their titles on the motoring landscape. But often the bases for these tributes have not been handed down to the current era, leaving many elements of Michigan's highway heritage lost in the fog of passing years. In an effort to recapture that missing part of our transportation history, A Drive Down Memory Lane reacquaints us with the approximately 250 people and groups that were once deemed so important they were immortalized—recently or decades ago—on the travel maps of this state by having their names assigned to our most significant lanes of traffic.