The state provided funds to set up ridesharing offices in local communities and furnished help to private companies setting up vanpool programs. The department built more than 100 lots, mostly at highway intersections, for free parking by carpoolers.
The great highway-building era of the 1950's, 60's and 70's produced 1,700 miles of multi-lane freeways to accommodate huge growth in vehicles and travel mileage in Michigan. This is the interchange of M-21 and I-475 freeways under construction in Flint.
Aviation activities also gained ground, guided by the Michigan Aeronautics Commission, which was transferred to the department in the 1973 reorganization. The number of passengers boarding and deplaning at Michigan's 21 airports served by certificated airlines climbed to a record 14 million by 1980. The number of registered general aviation aircraft rose to 6,600 and airports totaled more than 300. Department personnel assisted local authorities in airport planning and development, establishment of air commuter services, efforts to preserve privately owned, public-use airports threatened by closure, particularly in urban areas, and a wide variety of safety and service operations.
Bike paths were established on widened shoulders or built separately along a number of state highways, including a 40-mile bikeway for the full route of I-275 Freeway west of Detroit.
This paved bicycle path built in 1974 from Hillsdale to Jonesville along M-99 marked the Department's entry into a program to provide facilities for non-motorized transportation.
Meanwhile, the commission and Woodford pushed ahead with the state's highway-building program, although it did not begin to match the pace of the 195O's and '60's. The freeway system reached the 1,700-mile mark. All but 50 miles of the 1,181-mile interstate system were
29
