M-102 (Michigan highway)

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Michigan state trunkline highway. For the former U.S. Highway, see
U.S. Route 102
.
"Eight Mile Road" redirects here. For the Ryo Kawasaki album, see Eight Mile Road (album).

M-102 marker

M-102

8 Mile Road
Map
M-102 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length20.804 mi[1] (33.481 km)
Existedc. 1928[2][3]–present
Major junctions
West end M-5 at Livonia
Major intersections
East end I-94 at Harper Woods
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountiesWayne, Oakland, Macomb
Highway system
←
US 102
→ M-103

M-102 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that runs along the northern boundary of Detroit following 8 Mile Road. The highway follows the Michigan Baseline, a part of the land survey of the state, and the roadway is also called Base Line Road in places. As a county road or city street, 8 Mile Road extends both east and west of the M-102 designation, which leaves 8 Mile on the eastern end to follow Vernier Road. The western terminus of M-102 is at the junction of 8 Mile Road and M-5 (Grand River Avenue) and the opposite end is at Vernier Road and Interstate 94 (I-94). The 8 Mile Road name extends west to Pontiac Trail near South Lyon with a discontinuous segment located west of US Highway 23 (US 23). The eastern end of 8 Mile Road is in Grosse Pointe Woods, near I-94, with a short, discontinuous segment east of Mack Avenue.

The highway was first designated in the late 1920s, connecting US 10 (Woodward Avenue, now M-1) with US 25 (Gratiot Avenue, now M-3). Extensions to the highway designation moved the termini in the 1930s and 1940s east to M-29 (Jefferson Avenue) and US 16 (Grand River Avenue, now M-5). A change in the 1960s added a section of north–south roadway to the eastern end of M-102; that change was reversed within about a year. A western extension along Grand River Avenue in 1977 was reversed in 1994, and M-102 has remained the same since.

As the long northern border of the city of Detroit, 8 Mile Road has carried major cultural significance; since the mid-20th century parts of the road has served as a physical and cultural

black
city. The racial patterns have changed somewhat as middle-class African Americans have also moved north of 8 Mile, but the socioeconomic divide between the city and suburbs remains.

Route description

Starting at an intersection with Hamburg Road along the

Mile Road System at Michigan and Woodward avenues.[5]

M-102 starts at the intersection between M-5 (Grand River Avenue) and 8 Mile Road and runs eastward along 8 Mile Road. The highway widens out into a

median. Motorists that want to make a left turn along 8 Mile Road have to perform a Michigan left to do so. Starting at the Inkster Road intersection, M-102 forms the boundary between Redford to the south and Southfield to the north. East of Five Points Road, the 8 Mile follows the northern city limits of Detroit. On either side of 8 Mile Road, the area is filled with residential neighborhoods of the two cities with commercial businesses immediately adjacent to the highway. About two miles (3.2 km) east of its starting point, M-102 intersects US 24 (Telegraph Road) at a cloverleaf interchange near Frisbee-Pembroke Park and Plum Hollow Country Club.[6][7] Along the length of the eight-lane highway, there are large power line towers in the median.[8]

8 Mile Road exit sign on I-75, at 7 Mile Road in Detroit

Continuing east, M-102 intersects M-39 (Southfield Freeway) and M-10 (Lodge Freeway) south of the Southfield campus of Oakland Community College and the Northland Center Mall. As the highway approaches M-1 (Woodward Avenue), there are a pair of service drives that split from the main roadway in each direction to provide access through the interchange with M-1. The main lanes of M-102 pass under M-1 and its ramp connections before the service drives merge back in on the other side. This interchange is located adjacent to the Michigan State Fairgrounds, former site of the now-defunct Michigan State Fair, and Woodlawn Cemetery.[6][7] East of the fairgrounds, the highway crosses a line of the Canadian National Railway that also carries Amtrak passenger traffic;[9] the line is south of a rail terminal in Ferndale. Further east, M-102 meets I-75 before intersecting Dequindre Road. Dequindre is the boundary between Oakland and Macomb counties.[6][7]

Now following the Wayne–Macomb county line, M-102 separates Warren from Detroit. The highway also runs parallel to, and about a half mile (0.8 km) north of Outer Drive,[6][7] the original beltway highway proposed in 1918 to encircle Detroit.[10] The road passes the Mound Road Engine facility, a former Chrysler plant next to the Mound Road intersection. East of the plant,[6][7] the highway crosses a branch line of the Conrail Shared Assets Operations on the east side of the plant complex[9] before intersecting M-53 (Van Dyke Road).[6][7] Further east, 8 Mile Road passes north of the Bel Air Center Shopping Center before crossing another Canadian National Railway line[9] next to the intersection with M-97 (Groesbeck Highway).[6][7]

8 Mile Road exit off I-94

On the far east side of Detroit, M-102 separates the city from the suburb of

Eastland Center, the highway turns southeasterly along Vernier Road to enter Harper Woods in Wayne County; 8 Mile Road continues due eastward along the county line in this suburb as a four-lane undivided urban arterial street. The eastern terminus of M-102 is at the interchange between Vernier Road and I-94 about 1,700 feet (520 m) south of 8 Mile Road near the boundary with Grosse Pointe Woods.[6][7]

History

M-102 was first designated along 8 Mile Road from US 10 (Woodward Avenue, now M-1) to US 25 (Gratiot Avenue, now M-3) in late 1928 or early 1929.[2][3] In 1939, the eastern terminus was moved as M-102 was extended along 8 Mile and Vernier Roads to end in Grosse Pointe Shores at M-29 (Jefferson Avenue).[11][12] The highway was extended in the early 1940s from Woodward westward to US 16 (Grand River Avenue, now M-5).[13][14]

During 1963, the M-102 designation was extended northerly along Jefferson Avenue through St. Clair Shores, replacing the M-29 designation to the Shook Road interchange at the northern end of the then-existing I-94 freeway.[15][16] That extension was reversed the next year, and M-102 was scaled back to end at US 25 (Gratiot Avenue); the rest of 8 Mile and Vernier roads plus the Jefferson Avenue segment are added to M-29 instead.[16][17] M-102 was re-extended along 8 Mile and Vernier roads to the I-94 interchange in Harper Woods in 1970 replacing M-29; the remainder of that other highway along Vernier Road and Jefferson Avenue to Shook Road that was once part of M-102 was transferred to local control.[18][19]

When

Business Spur I-96 designation that had replaced US 16 was removed from Grand River Avenue. That roadway was signed as M-5 southward between 8 Mile Road and its present eastern terminus at I-96 while the remainder of Grand River Avenue and the stub freeway formerly part of I-96 that continued out to I-275 became part of M-102.[20][21] This extension to M-102 was reversed in October 1994 when M-5 was extended northwesterly along Grand River Avenue, the freeway and up the Haggerty Connector north of I-96 in Novi, replacing part of M-102 in the process.[22]

Cultural impact

Racial and economic divide

Racial distribution of Metro Detroit from the 2010 Census
     White      Black      Asian      Hispanic      Other (Each dot represents 25 people)

The road has long served as a

white northern suburbs. The perception of 8 Mile as the chief dividing line between racial groups and classes persists, in part because the suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb remain, on the whole, significantly whiter and more prosperous than the city of Detroit.[23] However, in recent years increasing numbers of whites have moved into Detroit, especially around the downtown area, and other neighborhoods in the region have become more ethnically diverse as well.[24]

According to the

2010 Census, the index was computed as 79.6, which was a "substantial decline" in the words of the study's authors.[26]

The movie

8 Mile", take their names and cultural subject matter from the roadway.[24]

In surveying

Map of Michigan showing the Michigan Baseline used for survey purposes (click to enlarge)

8 Mile Road is also known as Base Line Road, for it was used to set the baseline for the Public Land Survey System in Michigan. The system helped bring order to county boundaries, which had often been set in other states by geographic markers such as rivers, hills, and trees, and were therefore rather irregular. Today, the baseline forms the northern or southern boundary of many southern Michigan counties.[28]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Oakland–Wayne
county line		Farmington Hills–Livonia city line0.0000.000
 M-5 (Grand River Avenue) to I-96 – Lansing
8 Mile Road west		8 Mile Road extends westward to Pontiac Trail
Detroit
Cloverleaf interchange
5.1988.365
Detroit
Exit 15 on M-39
6.0159.680
Detroit
Exit 13 on M-10; no control cities eastbound; grade separation at Greenfield Road with access via M-10 ramps
Detroit
Three-level diamond interchange
Detroit
Exit 59 on I-75
Detroit
16.29026.216
Detroit
Detroit
Eastpointe–Harper Woods city line19.73131.7548 Mile Road eastM-102 follows Vernier Road; 8 Mile continues east to Mack Avenue
Detroit

Vernier Road east		Exit 225 on I-94; Vernier Road continues east to Lake Shore Drive
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Michigan Department of Transportation (2021). Next Generation PR Finder (Map). Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. ^
    OCLC 12701195, 79754957
    .
  3. ^
    OCLC 12701195, 79754957
    .
  4. OCLC 42778335, 794857350
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-937247-34-1
    – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^
    OCLC 42778335, 794857350
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Google (June 11, 2012). "Overview Map of M-102 (8 Mile Road)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  8. ^ Alpert, Steve. "M-102, 8 Mile Road". Alp's Roads. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Michigan Department of Transportation (January 2011). Michigan's Railroad System (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Lansing: Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  10. ISSN 0746-4045
    . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  11. OCLC 12701143
    .
  12. OCLC 12701143
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  13. OCLC 12701143. Archived from the original
    on April 22, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2017 – via Archives of Michigan.
  14. OCLC 12701143
    .
  15. OCLC 12701120
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  16. ^
    OCLC 12701120, 81213707
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  17. OCLC 12701120
    . Retrieved October 17, 2019 – via Michigan History Center.
  18. OCLC 12701120
    .
  19. OCLC 12701120, 77960415
    .
  20. OCLC 12701177
    .
  21. OCLC 12701177
    .
  22. ^ Greenwood, Tom (January 28, 1999). "M-5 'Haggerty Connector' Work To Be Done by 2001". The Detroit News.
  23. Honolulu Advertiser. Associated Press
    . September 28, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  24. ^ a b Chinni, Dante (November 15, 2002). "Along Detroit's Eight Mile Road, a stark racial split". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  25. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  26. ^ Logan, John R.; Stults, Brian (2011). "The Persistence of Segregation in the Metropolis: New Findings from the 2010 Census" (PDF). Census Brief prepared for Project US2010. Project US2010. p. 6. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  27. ^ Abbey-Lambertz, Kate (December 6, 2017). "Eminem's Childhood Home in Detroit Burns After Woman Tried to Purchase It". HuffPost. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  28. ISSN 0022-1341
    .

External links

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