"Are they calling it I-69 because it will suck at both ends?"
Now, you know the rules here on FR. But seriously, the north end of I-69 (in Mich and Indiana) is an excellent freeway, I've driven it many times. It's only our luck in having Perry as governor at this end that almost assures it will be useless to most Texans (technically, I guess we could use it, but only by paying through the teeth).
I agree, although it's easier since it doesn't hit our two big cities(Detroit/Grand Rapids). In Michigan, the only 100,000+ cities that I-69 hits are Lansing and Flint, and most of the big Lansing traffic goes on US-127 or I96. Most of the big Flint traffic goes on I-75 or US-23.
Makes things much easier.