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A blessing.
That's what most Macomb County executives called completion of the I-696 freeway last month. I-696 -- the 28.2-mile stretch connecting I-275 to I-94 -- will be a boon for south Macomb County communities.
The freeway was some 30 years in the making. It was well worth the wait, said Bernard Giampetroni, Macomb's executive director for planning and economic development.
"It's been a given for quite a while that the freeway was to be a reality, and many small and large businesses took that to heart," he said. ". . . Until the opening of the final leg of I-696, there were no east/west connections linking south Macomb and Oakland County. The opening will have a dramatic impact."
Giampetroni said that because of immediate access to the prosperous commercial and industrial communities in place in Southfield, northern Wayne County, Farmington Hills and Novi, Macomb County should benefit from added business. "Many of the smaller businesses in the Groesbeck, Mound and Van Dyke corridors have regional, state and national links," he said. "I-696's opening will . . . shorten delivery time, maximize their profit potential and expand their business."
Giampetroni said many Southeast Michigan businesses rely on trucking, rather than rail, for supplies and customer deliveries. I-696 provides those companies with effective "just-in-time" opportunities that didn't exist before.
Giampetroni envisions the southern part...