^Looking east at the last eastbound trailblazer for I-696 just before the end at I-94, July 2023.

​​Interstate 696 flanks Detroit to the north, serving as part of the freeway bypass around the city.  Together with Interstate 275, it forms a complete freeway bypass around the area, from the northeastern-most radial freeway to the southwestern-most radial freeway.  The eastern end of Interstate 696 is at Interstate 94, near St. Clair Shores.  The freeway runs almost exactly westward through an interchange with Interstate 75, to end near Farmington Hills and Novi, Michigan.  This western end is at an interchange with Interstate 96, which features a seamless transition into Interstate 275, the north-south portion of the bypass. Interstate 275 runs south from here along the west side of Metro Detroit to finish the rest of the metroplex's freeway bypass.  As Interstate 96 ends in Detroit, Interstate 696's eastward progression does not circle back to its parent route, per se.  It does circle back to another freeway, Interstate 94, which continues to progress northeastward. Interstate 696 is mainly suburban in nature, as it passes through many of Detroit's near northern suburbs.

My photo of a cutout shield for Interstate 696 comes from Bermuda Street, where Ferndale meets Royal Oak. The guide assembly shown points northbound travelers on Bermuda Street toward the access roads to Interstate 696. Though turns onto these access roads don't instantly yield the freeway onramps, they do eventually bring travelers to the onramps desired. In recent years, the adoption of unisigns for Michigan's Interstate junctions has made cutout shields difficult to find across the state.  Usually, I'm relegated to finding these cutout shields on "To" guide markers, distant from the Interstate itself.  The cutout shields in this photo, however, are right where the cross-street passes over Interstate 696.  This photo was taken in April 2021, as I was traveling across Metro Detroit and the Michigan Thumb.

Michigan Interstate guides will come with complete exit lists and a photo for every exit, at some point in the future when I've driven the full lengths of all of them.  This page showing the cutout shield will stay here for now, until that happens.

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