​​Michigan Highway 96 is a surface highway running east-west from Kalamazoo to Marshall, by way of Battle Creek.  It might be easy to confuse this route with Interstate 96, which is not a long distance away and, of course, has the name number.  Interstate 94 is never far away from wherever Michigan Highway 96 goes.  It sort of serves as an elongated business alternate for Interstate 94, as both of its ends are at Business Loop routes of Interstate 94.  The western end, to be more specific, is at a point where Kalamazoo's business loop bends back toward the mainline of Interstate 94 on the east side of town.  The eastern end of Michigan Highway 96 is an interchange with Interstate 69 where the Marshall iteration of Business Loop 94 starts heading east into Marshall. As you can see, a different iteration of Business Loop 94 takes over for Michigan Highway 96, extending onward from each end of the state highway. Maybe the whole thing could be a big long Business Loop of Interstate 94?  I don't know.  All I know is that this highway numbered 96 is too close to Interstate 96, which isn't far to the north.

My photo of a route marker for Michigan Highway 96 comes from its eastern end at Interstate 69.  The signage shown, on the west side of Marshall, faces south along the northbound offramp from Interstate 69.  Interstate 94 lies just to the north of this spot, and its business loop into Marshall sets out toward the east from here.  The signs show that Michigan Highway 96 gets started on its westbound journey as the observing travelers turn left ahead. This photo was taken at the tail end of a drive around central and southern Michigan in March 2019.

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