abandoned in a few years with the outbreak of World War II.
VanWagoner built the first roadside park on the state highway system and etablished the nation's first permanent highway travel information center at New Buffalo, boosting a fast-growing tourist industry. More than 3,000 picnic tables were placed along the roadside.
It was on this site on US-12 at New Buffalo that Michigan's—and the nation's—first permanent travel information lodge was opened in 1933. The lodge (above) as it appeared in 1968 was the successor to the original.
The department was paying up to $300,000 a mile to build highways in rural areas, $1.6 million in urban areas. Costs had climbed, but the roadways also were smoother and safer than ever before, thanks to constant improvement in design and engineering, materials and equipment and the fruits of research and testing. By the time VanWagoner became governor in 1941, his team had built $350 million worth of highways and had plans for a statewide system of limited access expressways.
Kennedy succeeded VanWagoner. With America's entry into World War II December 8, 1941, he was given the task of building the Willow Run and Detroit Industrial expressways to carry workers from the Detroit area to the Ford Motor Co. bomber plant at Ypsilanti. The order from Washington: build a 14-mile, four-lane divided highway in as little time as possible. Kennedy threw
Traffic jams and stop-and-go traffic were commonplace in the pre-freeway era as millions of families became auto owners. This is US-25 (Gratiot Avenue) in Detroit just before the outbreak of World War II in 1941.
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