M-3 (Michigan highway)

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Gratiot Avenue
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M-3 marker

M-3

Map
M-3 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length26.685 mi[1] (42.945 km)
Existed1973[2][3]–present
Major junctions
South endBroadway and Randolph streets in Detroit
Major intersections
North end I-94 / M-29 near New Baltimore
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountiesWayne, Macomb
Highway system
←
M-4

M-3, known for most of its length as Gratiot Avenue (/ˈɡræʃɪt/, GRASH-it[4]), is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Detroit metropolitan area of the US state of Michigan. The trunkline starts in Downtown Detroit and runs through the city in a northeasterly direction along one of Detroit's five major avenues. The highway passes several historic landmarks and through a historic district. It also connects residential neighborhoods on the city's east side with suburbs in Macomb County and downtown.

Gratiot Avenue in Detroit was one of the original avenues laid out by Judge

Augustus Woodward after the Detroit fire in 1805. It was later used as a supply road for Fort Gratiot in Port Huron under authorization from the US Congress in the 1820s. The roadway was included in the State Trunkline Highway System in 1913 and signposted with a number in 1919. Later, it was used as a segment of US Highway 25 (US 25) before that highway was functionally replaced by Interstate 94 (I-94) in the 1960s. The M-3 designation was applied to the current highway in 1973, and a southern section was reassigned to M-85
in 2001.

Route description

View of Gratiot Avenue from Detroit People Mover station in Detroit

The southern end of M-3 is at an intersection between Broadway and Randolph streets and Gratiot Avenue in downtown Detroit; the highway runs northeasterly from this intersection along Gratiot Avenue, one of Detroit's five major thoroughfares. This street is a

St. John's-St. Luke's Evangelical churches before intersecting the end of the Fisher Freeway, which at this location is an unnumbered connector to I-75 and I-375. Gratiot continues past the freeway on the city's east side, bordering residential neighborhoods along the way. Through this area, it had a continuous center turn lane, losing the grassy median it had in places downtown. The highway intersects Grand Boulevard near Dueweke Park, and at Van Dyke Avenue, it intersects the southern end of M-53. Gratiot Avenue crosses I-94 at the latter's exit 219 near the Coleman A. Young International Airport and an adjacent industrial area.[5][6]

Gratiot Avenue at Brush Street, looking northeast

Past the airport, Gratiot Avenue once again runs through residential neighborhoods while being immediately bordered by commercial properties. The southern end of

McNichols Street. Just before crossing M-102 (8 Mile Road), Gratiot Avenue widens back to a boulevard. This intersection marks the transition from Detroit and Wayne County to Eastpointe in Macomb County.[5][6]

In Macomb County, M-3 follows a boulevard setup complete with

Clinton Charter Township next to the Hebrew Memorial Park, a cemetery.[5][6]

North of the intersection with Metropolitan Parkway, Gratiot Avenue splits into a one-way pairing of Northbound and Southbound Gratiot avenues as it crosses into Mount Clemens near the Clinton River. The two separate streets are one, two, or even three blocks apart through the city's downtown area. North of the Patterson Street intersections, the two streets cross back into Clinton Township and merge back together in four-lane street with a center turn lane. North of M-59 (Hall Road). M-3 clips the southeastern corner of Macomb Township near Selfridge Air National Guard Base. The highway continues into Chesterfield Township. M-3 parts from Gratiot Avenue at the intersection with 23 Mile Road, turning eastward along that roadway to an intersection with I-94. At exit 243, M-3 terminates at this interchange and 23 Mile Road continues easterly as M-29.[5][6]

M-3 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2010 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-3 were the 73,957 vehicles daily south of 14 Mile Road in Roseville; the lowest counts were the 4,609 vehicles per day north of Cadillac Square in downtown Detroit.[7] All of M-3 has been listed on the National Highway System,[8] a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.[9]

History

Original designation

Detroit in April 1939 showing M-3 on Schaefer Highway and US 25 on Gratiot Avenue

The first trunkline to be designated M-3 was Schaefer Highway in 1937, running north–south from US 25 (Dix Avenue) in Melvindale to US 16 (Grand River Avenue) in western Detroit.[10][11] Two years later, the highway became M-39.[12][13] Since M-39 was moved to Southfield Road in the end of the 1950s, Schaefer Highway has been a locally maintained road.[14][15]

Current designation

The chief transportation routes in 1701 were the Indian trails that crossed the future state of Michigan; the one connecting what are now Detroit and Port Huron was one of these thirteen trails at the time.[16] Detroit created 120-foot (37 m) rights-of-way for the principal streets of the city, the modern Gratiot Avenue included, in 1805.[17] This street plan was devised by Augustus Woodward and others following a devastating fire in Detroit.[18] Gratiot Avenue, then also called Detroit–Port Huron Road,[17] was authorized by the US Congress on March 2, 1827, as a supply road from Detroit to Port Huron for Fort Gratiot. Construction started in Detroit in 1829, and the roadway was completed in the same year to Mount Clemens. The rest was finished in 1833.[19] The road was named for the fort near Port Huron, which was in turn named for Colonel Charles Gratiot,[20] the supervising engineer in charge of construction of the structure in the aftermath of the War of 1812.[21]

Gratiot Avenue in 1941

On May 13, 1913, the

I-94 freeway, with the exception of the stretch between New Haven and Muttonville, which was again designated M-19 as an extension of that route. Between Hall and 23 Mile roads, Gratiot Avenue was added to an extended M-59.[27][28]

Until the 1970s, Gratiot Avenue was part of US 25

M-3 returned to existence in 1973, when US 25, now

Highway 3.[2][3] The signs were changed over in February 1974 to complete the change.[29] In 1998, the eastern end of M-59 was rerouted to end at I-94 exit 240, eliminating the concurrency from Hall Road to the current northern terminus of M-3.[30][31]

At the end of 2000, MDOT proposed several highway transfers in Detroit, some of which involved transferring highways in the Campus Martius Park area to city control; another part of the proposal involved MDOT assuming control over a section of Fort Street from the then-northern terminus of M-85 to the then-southern terminus of M-3 at Clark Street.[32] When these transfers were completed the following year, M-3 was severed into two discontinuous segments by the Campus Martius changes, and the southern segment between Clark and Griswold streets was added to an extended M-85.[33][34]

On April 26, 2023, MDOT and the City of Detroit approved a memorandum of understanding that transferred jurisdiction over the 0.396 miles (0.637 km) of Randolph Street to city control. This MOU also included a payment of $7,609,203.68 to the city to reconstruct that section of street with the stipulation that the city has to complete the project within five years or return the money to the department. The transfer moved Randolph Street from the state trunkline highway system and shifted M-3's southern terminus northward to the intersection of Broadway and Randolph streets with Gratiot Avenue.[35]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Detroit
0.0000.000Gratiot Avenue
Randolph Street
Broadway Street		Southern terminus; roadway continues as Gratiot Avenue
0.901–
0.939		1.450–
1.511
 I-375 south (Chrysler Freeway) – Downtown
I-75 – Flint, Toledo		Southbound outbound access and northbound inbound access; exit 51B on I-75
2.947–
2.967		4.743–
4.775		East Grand Boulevard
3.4165.498
 M-53 north (Van Dyke Avenue)		Southern terminus of M-53
4.382–
4.393		7.052–
7.070
Detroit, Port Huron
Exit 219 on I-94
5.7009.173
 M-97 north (Gunston Avenue)		Southern terminus of M-97
Detroit–Eastpointe city line
8.86814.272 M-102 (8 Mile Road)
MacombRoseville12.288–
12.301		19.776–
19.797		 I-696 (Reuther Freeway) – Lansing, Port HuronExit 27 on I-696
14.785–
14.874		23.794–
23.937
Detroit
Exit 231 on I-94; access from I-94 to M-3 south via Michigan left
Clinton Charter Township
18.003–
18.053		28.973–
29.053		Metropolitan Parkway – Troy
Mount Clemens22.617–
22.657		36.399–
36.463		 M-59 (Hall Road) – Utica, Pontiac
Detroit, Port Huron

 M-29 north (23 Mile Road east) – New Baltimore
Northern terminus; exit 243 on I-94; highway continues as M-29
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

  •  
    Michigan Highways portal

References

  1. ^ a b Michigan Department of Transportation (2021). Next Generation PR Finder (Map). Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  2. ^
    OCLC 12701120, 81679137
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  3. ^
    OCLC 12701177, 83138602
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  4. ^ Bureau of Services for Blind Persons Braille and Talking Book Library (n.d.). "Pronunciation Guide: 'You Say it How in Michigan?' for Michigan Names and Places". Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Michigan Department of Transportation (2023). Michigan: Official 2023 Michigan Transportation Map (PDF) (Map). c. 1:158,400. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Detroit Area inset. §§ E12–A14.
  6. ^ a b c d Google (April 27, 2023). "Overview Map of M-3" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Bureau of Transportation Planning (2008). "Traffic Monitoring Information System". Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved April 24, 2011.
  8. ^ Michigan Department of Transportation (2005). National Highway System: Detroit Urbanized Area (PDF) (Map). Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  9. ^ Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  10. OCLC 12701143
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  11. OCLC 12701143
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  12. OCLC 12701143
    .
  13. OCLC 12701143
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  14. OCLC 12701120, 51856742
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center. (Includes all changes through July 1, 1958)
  15. OCLC 12701120, 81552576
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center. (Includes all changes through July 1, 1960)
  16. OCLC 23314983
    .
  17. ^
    OCLC 435640179
    .
  18. Detroit News. Archived from the original
    on January 4, 2009. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  19. ISBN 1-88616-7-24-9
    .
  20. Archive.org
    .
  21. Michigan History Magazine
    . 4 (1). Lansing: Michigan Historical Commission: 144–46. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  22. OCLC 44724558
    . Retrieved January 24, 2012.
  23. ^ "Michigan May Do Well Following Wisconsin's Road Marking System". The Grand Rapids Press. September 20, 1919. p. 10.
  24. OCLC 15607244
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  25. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved November 7, 2013 – via Wikimedia Commons
    .
  26. ^ Michigan State Highway Department (December 1, 1926). Official Highway Condition Map (Map). [c. 1:823,680]. Lansing: Michigan State Highway Department.
  27. OCLC 12701120
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  28. OCLC 12701120, 81213707
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  29. The Blade
    . Toledo, OH. January 13, 1974. p. A14. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
  30. OCLC 42778335
    .
  31. OCLC 42778335, 55974644
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  32. ^ Michigan Department of Transportation (November 7, 2000). Proposed Jurisdiction Transfers in the City of Detroit (PDF) (Map). Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  33. OCLC 42778335
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  34. OCLC 42778335
    .
  35. ^ Michigan Department of Transportation; City of Detroit (April 26, 2023). "Jurisdictional Transfer Agreement Between Michigan Department of Transportation and City of Detroit" (Memorandum). Michigan Department of Transportation. MDOT 2023-0241.

External links

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  • M-3 at Michigan Highways

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