High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Interstate 496 (I-496) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that passes through downtown Lansing in the US state of Michigan. It is a loop route that connects I-96 to the downtown area. It has been named the R.E. Olds Freeway for Ransom E. Olds, the founder of Oldsmobile and the REO Motor Car Company. The freeway runs east–west from I-96/I-69 near the downtown area and north–south along a section that runs concurrently with US Highway 127 (US 127). The freeway also passes a former assembly plant used by Oldsmobile and runs along or crosses parts of the Grand and Red Cedar rivers