Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad given to railroads (which would then re-sell these lands for a profit) in exchange for constructing certain routes. At the heart of Michigan's network at the time were the Michigan Central Railroad and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, both of which ran east-west across the southern Lower Peninsula. As proposed in the route would run from "Amboy by Hillsdale and Lansing, and from Grand Rapids to some point on or near Traverse Bay." This route would bisect the existing railroad network and provide a railroad connection to Lansing, the new state capital. Almost immediately local interests intervened: the
Lansing–East Lansing metropolitan area Ionia County was added in 1973, but taken out a decade later for the 1990 Census. The Lansing–East Lansing–Owosso Combined Statistical Area includes the Lansing–East Lansing MSA, plus the Owosso μSA, which includes Shiawassee County. As of the 2010 census, the CSA had a population of 534,684. The Lansing Urban Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, which measures the extent of the built environment, had a population of 313,532 as of the 2010 census. Lansing–East Lansing MSA Owosso μSA As of the census of 2010, there were 464,036 people, 183,442 households, and 112,131 families residing within the MSA.