I-496 Construction: Was it right or wrong?

I never knew that the construction of I-496, the main highway in Lansing/East Lansing was such a big ordeal. I-496 spurred growth in the suburbs, but claimed many streets, homes and businesses in the city in the process. The heart of Lansing’s African-American community was torn out by the freeway’s construction. The construction of the freeway required the demolition or removal or nearly 600 homes, 60 businesses, and 15 farms. This was an incredible amount of destruction. While looking at the photo gallery of I-496, I was sad for those who lost their homes. So many photos were of machines crushing people’s homes. It made me wonder, where did these families move to? Did they move to a home just as nice as this one? Were they forced out of the city or did they move somewhere near? It was such a devastating event for some families and I just wonder how well these people were treated. In Miller’s article he shares a comment from historian Thomas Sugrue stating that the highway construction was steered toward places where people did not have the money or power to put up much of a fight or what Sugrue called “the paths of least resistance” aka. Primarily black neighborhoods (Miller.) This made me wonder, was this area chosen because of this reason? Why was another area composed of primarily whites not chosen? Was it really the location that prompted the construction or was it the composition of people in the area that made for the decision?

I was very appalled at reading the article to find out that many people were basically told they had to re-locate their families and purchase new homes to build the highway. Until now I was completely unaware of what Lansing actually looked like before I-496 was actually built. I never knew that mainly an African American population dominated the area and that many thriving businesses were located in the area and were forced to shut down or move.

I questioned a lot of things while reading and scoping out the websites posted and some of the questions I had were:
1. As families homes were demolished due to the construction of I-496, where were these families re-located? Or were many left without places to live/move (due to lack of funds or segregation)?
2. Why was the specific location of I-496 really chosen? Was it really the best suitable location for creating a highway or was it due to what Miller claimed as “the paths of least resistance?”
3. Since the highway construction cut out a lot of homes and businesses, how did this affect the overall economy at the time? Was it a positive outcome for Lansing?
4. It was said that the creation of I-496 would help in regards to the situations with segregation at the time but did this really happen or is the area still segregated today? At the time were blacks and whites integrated like intended?
5. Were people, whose homes were demolished or purchased, paid a fair amount? How was the amount decided? Were the amount sufficient for these people and their families to re-located and purchase new homes?