page_title: M-6 (Michigan highway)
section_title: Phase I
hierarchical_section_title: M-6 (Michigan highway) / History / Current freeway / Phase I
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial photo of the M-6/M-37 interchange in Caledonia, Michigan under construction
context_page_description: M-6, or the Paul B. Henry Freeway, is a 19.7-mile-long east–west freeway and state trunkline highway in the United States that serves portions of southern Kent and eastern Ottawa counties south of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Although the freeway is named for Paul B. Henry, local residents and the press continue to use the original name, South Beltline as well on occasion. The freeway connects Interstate 196 on the west with I-96 on the east. M-6 also provides a connection to U.S. Highway 131 in the middle of its corridor while running through several townships on the south side of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area in Western Michigan. Each end is in a rural area while the central section has suburban development along the trunkline.
  The freeway was originally conceived in the 1960s. It took 32 years to approve, plan, finance, and build the freeway from the time that the state first authorized funding in 1972 to the time of the ribbon-cutting ceremony in 2004 that opened the South Beltline to traffic. The project cost around $700 million or around $35 million per mile. Initial construction started in November 1997, with the first phase opened in November 2001.
context_section_description: Proposals for the South Beltline Freeway were nearly 25 years old by the time initial construction was started in 1997. The Michigan State Legislature named the South Beltline around the same time for the Congressman Paul B. Henry, who died in office in 1993, serving in Gerald Ford's old US House seat. The cost of the construction of new roads like the South Beltline was a campaign issue when Engler ran for re-election against Geoffrey Feiger in 1998. The entire freeway was projected to open by 2008, with the first phase opening in 2002. MDOT gave the South Beltline its numerical designation on the July 1999 edition of the state map, marking M-6 for the first time as a dotted line, to denote it was "under construction". The legislature approved Engler's "Build Michigan III" program in 2000; the plan accelerated road projects in the state. The capital outlay for the year was $82 million (equivalent to $119 million in 2018).  Condemnation proceedings were initiated in the Kent County Circuit Court in 1999 to clear the way for the acquisitions. Land that contained homes, farms, trailer parks, and businesses was purchased by MDOT to acquire the right-of-way needed for the freeway. The land needed measured 360 feet (110 m) wide and 20 miles (32 km) long. Land acquisitions for the South Beltline Freeway were completed in July 2001. Construction started later in the fall of 2001 on the second and third phases of the project.
  The first leg of the South Beltline Freeway, located between M-37 (Broadmoor Avenue) and I-96, was finished six months early. Dry summer weather allowed the roadbed contractors to finish their portion of the five-mile (8.0 km) section of the freeway early, earning them a $300,000 bonus (equivalent to $415,000 in 2018). The overpasses for the remaining sections of the freeway were completed while the first phase was under construction, leaving the interchanges at US 131 and I-196 and the connecting roadbed to be completed at that time. The first section was paved in asphalt after MDOT reversed the decision to pave the whole freeway in concrete. That stretch of freeway opened to traffic on November 20, 2001. The state kept the overall project in an accelerated status headed into the next phases in 2002.
caption: M-37 interchange incomplete while the remainder of the freeway was under construction
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2004:06:15 16:06:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "174", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF SubSecTime": "945", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "240"}