Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Stupid time to ask this question but...

I just drove the entire stretch of I-496 for the first time and guess what it goes a lot farther than the neighborhood we are discussing. A lot of land was used and why are we only focusing on this one neighborhood? I realize it was the largest black community in Lansing at the time but I-496 impacted so many more people. This leads me to a lot of questions about our exhibit. Why are we only including one neighborhood? Did the people in Eaton County get treated differently than in Ingham county? What was destroyed out past this community to build I-496? I know if we included everyone are exhibit would be to huge with too many focal points. However, with a narrow scope of the project I don't feel that we can tell an accurate complete story.
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4 comments:

  1. BrianneMarch 18, 2010 at 10:48 AM

    I think these are natural questions that a visitor would ask--to phrase your question a different way: "Why is this portion of I-496 so important?" I think a good exhibit has to answer this question. Can we accurately answer this with option 1?

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  2. NMH86March 20, 2010 at 7:53 PM

    This is a very interesting fact! I actually grew up in Lansing and this point has not really crossed my mind at all HA! I-496 does actually go from the border of Ingham/Eaton country at Waverly road out to the stretch right before Grand Ledge. I am curious now wondering what was there in that stretch before the construction went on. Was this part of the highway built during the initial construction or was it added later? Was it just un-used land prior to or what? I agree that we cannot focus on all aspects of this highway construction because yes, our exhibit would be extremely too large and all over the place but this is a very interesting point to consider!

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  3. coolbaugh24March 22, 2010 at 9:59 PM

    I think you bring up a very valid point and quite frankly some of the questions you ask here, I have thought recently myself.

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  4. Matt MillerMarch 23, 2010 at 10:07 AM

    Brandon,

    The western-most section of I-496 was the last to be built. At the time of the highway's construction, this area was mostly rural.

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