LANSING – Six Republican lawmakers gave no R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha Franklin on Tuesday, voting no to renaming a portion of the Lodge Freeway in honor of the Queen of Soul.

Usually bills to rename freeways pass without a single no vote or complaint, but the 101-6 vote Tuesday was different.

State Rep. Shane Hernandez, R-Port Huron, said he thinks the honor should be limited to first responders, such as police and firefighters, and military who are killed in the line of duty.

"People who did a service to our state or nation, we can give them that honor and recognition and we should keep it reserved for them," he said. "I don't deny the great things she accomplished and wonderful things she did. It's just my personal opinion to keep it to first responders and military veterans."

He was joined in voting no by Republican Reps. Matt Maddock of White Lake; Steve Johnson of Wayland; Phil Green of Millington; Luke Meerman of Polkin Township and John Reilly of Oakland Township.

Rep. Leslie Love, D-Detroit, sponsored the bill and ticked off Franklin's many accolades over the years, not only musical, but in the civil rights and charitable venues as well.

"She gave us all the soundtrack to our lives," she said.

Although it will still be officially known as M-10, the stretch beginning at the intersection with Livernois Avenue and extending south to the intersection with I-94, would be known as the “Aretha L. Franklin Memorial Highway."

The stretch was chosen, Love said, because it starts near the New Bethel Baptist Church, where Franklin's father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was pastor and where Franklin honed her musical skills, and ends at I-94, which leads east and west across the state and symbolizes Franklin's wide reach.

It won’t be the first designation for the Queen of Soul, who died Aug. 16, 2018, after battling pancreatic cancer. Last year, the Detroit City Council designated a portion of Madison, between Brush and Witherell, as Aretha Franklin Way. The area is in the heart of a district that includes venues such as Music Hall, the Detroit Opera House, the Gem Theatre and the Carr Center.

Hernandez said he has no problem with local communities renaming roads for honored citizens, but doesn't believe state highway names should be changed for celebrities.

Traffic signs on the Lodge won’t be changed if the legislation is passed, but memorial designation signs could be placed along the stretch, said Jeff Cranson, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.

M-10, which runs from southwest Oakland County to downtown Detroit, was designated as the John C. Lodge Freeway after it was built in segments during the 1950s and '60s. It was named for John C. Lodge, who, after starting his career as a reporter and editor at the Detroit Free Press, became a Detroit City Council member for 30 years, the mayor of Detroit for six years during the 1920s and a member of the state House of Representatives.

The bill — HB 4060 — now moves to the state Senate for consideration.

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Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.