Congress further aided the road in 1835 with an appropriation of $25,000 (equivalent to $ in ) for a road on of right-of-way. These improvements included removing brush and debris and the construction of bridges across the Rouge, Shiawassee, Red Cedar and Grand rivers. The Grand River Road was a major route for settlers headed inland to Grand Rapids in 1836, as the shortest route for travelers coming from Detroit. An economic panic in 1837 drove settlers from New York to Michigan; these were the travelers who followed the Grand River Road. New settlements were created along the route, every or so, that distance being a good day's travel by horse. Approximately 120 wagons left Detroit each day between August and November 1843.