 M-102 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Mile Road | ||||
 M-102 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byMDOT | ||||
| Length | 20.804 mi[1] (33.481 km) | |||
| Existed | c. 1928[2][3]–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  M-5 atLivonia | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end |  I-94 atHarper Woods | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Michigan | |||
| Counties | Wayne,Oakland,Macomb | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
M-102 is an east–weststate trunkline highway in the US state ofMichigan that runs along the northern boundary ofDetroit following8 Mile Road. The highway follows theMichigan Baseline, a part of theland survey of the state, and the roadway is also calledBase 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 andM-5 (Grand River Avenue) and the opposite end is at Vernier Road andInterstate 94 (I-94). The 8 Mile Road name extends west to Pontiac Trail nearSouth Lyon with a discontinuous segment located west ofUS Highway 23 (US 23). The eastern end of 8 Mile Road is inGrosse Pointe Woods, near I-94, with a short, discontinuous segment east of Mack Avenue.
The highway was first designated in the late 1920s, connectingUS 10 (Woodward Avenue, nowM-1) withUS 25 (Gratiot Avenue, nowM-3). Extensions to the highway designation moved the termini in the 1930s and 1940s east toM-29 (Jefferson Avenue) andUS 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 culturaldividing line between the wealthier, predominantlywhite northernsuburbs of Detroit and the poorer, predominantlyblack 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.
Starting at an intersection with Hamburg Road along theLivingston–Washtenaw county line, 8 Mile Road runs eastward to an interchange with US 23 nearWhitmore Lake. There is a gap before 8 Mile Road resumes at Pontiac Trail along the Oakland–Washtenaw county line. Near the suburb ofNorthville, the road curves northward into Oakland County, and Base Line Road follows the county line for about one mile (1.6 km). The road meetsI-96/I-275 at that freeway's exit 167 along the border betweenLivonia andFarmington Hills.[4] As its name implies, 8 Mile Road runs east–west eight miles (13 km) north of the origin of theMile 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 aboulevard setup with each direction divided by a centralmedian. Motorists that want to make a left turn along 8 Mile Road have to perform aMichigan left to do so. Starting at the Inkster Road intersection, M-102 forms the boundary betweenRedford to the south andSouthfield 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 intersectsUS 24 (Telegraph Road) at acloverleaf interchange near Frisbee-Pembroke Park andPlum Hollow Country Club.[6][7] Along the length of the eight-lane highway, there are large power line towers in the median.[8]
Continuing east, M-102 intersectsM-39 (Southfield Freeway) andM-10 (Lodge Freeway) south of the Southfield campus ofOakland Community College and theNorthland Center Mall. As the highway approachesM-1 (Woodward Avenue), there are a pair ofservice 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 theMichigan State Fairgrounds, former site of the now-defunctMichigan State Fair, and Woodlawn Cemetery.[6][7] East of the fairgrounds, the highway crosses a line of theCanadian National Railway that also carriesAmtrak passenger traffic;[9] the line is south of a rail terminal in Ferndale. Further east, M-102 meetsI-75 before intersecting Dequindre Road. Dequindre is the boundary between Oakland andMacomb counties.[6][7]
Now following the Wayne–Macomb county line, M-102 separatesWarren from Detroit. The highway also runs parallel to, and about a half mile (0.8 km) north ofOuter Drive,[6][7] the original beltway highway proposed in 1918 to encircle Detroit.[10] The road passes theMound Road Engine facility, a formerChrysler plant next to the Mound Road intersection. East of the plant,[6][7] the highway crosses a branch line of theConrail Shared Assets Operations on the east side of the plant complex[9] before intersectingM-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 withM-97 (Groesbeck Highway).[6][7]
On the far east side of Detroit, M-102 separates the city from the suburb ofEastpointe once near the intersection withM-3 (Gratiot Avenue). Near Kelly Road and theEastland 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 undividedurban 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 withGrosse Pointe Woods.[6][7]
M-102 was first designated along 8 Mile Road fromUS 10 (Woodward Avenue, now M-1) toUS 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 inGrosse Pointe Shores atM-29 (Jefferson Avenue).[11][12] The highway was extended in the early 1940s from Woodward westward toUS 16 (Grand River Avenue, now M-5).[13][14]
During 1963, the M-102 designation was extended northerly along Jefferson Avenue throughSt. 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]
WhenI-96 was completed in 1977, several highway designations were shifted in the Metro Detroit area. TheBusiness 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 toI-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 inNovi, replacing part of M-102 in the process.[22]
The road has long served as ade facto cultural dividing line between the predominantly poorblack city and its wealthier, predominantlywhite 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 the2000 U.S. census, the median family income for the city of Detroit, whose population was 81.55% African-American, was $33,853, and 26.1% of the population lived below the poverty line. By contrast, the median family income for Oakland County, whose population was 82.75% white, was $75,540, and only 5.5% of residents lived below the poverty line.[25] These results were compiled into an Index of Dissimilarity of 85.9 by researchers with Brown University and Florida State University, the highest score for a metropolitan area in the United States. After the2010 Census, the index was computed as 79.6, which was a "substantial decline" in the words of the study's authors.[26]
The movie8 Mile, starring Detroit-areahip hop artistEminem, who lived near 8 Mile as a child,[27] as well as his songs "Lose Yourself" and "8 Mile", take their names and cultural subject matter from the roadway.[24]
8 Mile Road is also known as Base Line Road, for it was used to set thebaseline for thePublic 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]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland–Wayne county line | Farmington Hills–Livonia city line | 0.000 | 0.000 |   M-5 (Grand River Avenue) toI-96 –Lansing8 Mile Road west | 8 Mile Road extends westward to Pontiac Trail |
| Southfield–Detroit city line | 2.187 | 3.520 |  US 24 (Telegraph Road) –Pontiac,Detroit | Diverging diamond interchange | |
| 5.198 | 8.365 |  M-39 (Southfield Freeway) –Southfield,Detroit | Exit 15 on M-39 | ||
| 6.015 | 9.680 |  M-10 (Lodge Freeway) / Greenfield Road –Lansing,Detroit | Exit 13 on M-10; no control cities eastbound; grade separation at Greenfield Road with access via M-10 ramps | ||
| Ferndale–Detroit city line | 10.059 | 16.188 |  M-1 (Woodward Avenue) –Pontiac,Detroit | Three-level diamond interchange | |
| Hazel Park–Detroit city line | 11.577 | 18.631 |  I-75 (Chrysler Freeway) –Flint,Detroit | Exit 59 on I-75 | |
| Macomb–Wayne county line | Warren–Detroit city line | 15.159 | 24.396 |  M-53 (Van Dyke Road) –Warren,Detroit | |
| 16.290 | 26.216 |  M-97 (Groesbeck Highway) –Mount Clemens,Detroit | |||
| Eastpointe–Detroit city line | 18.096 | 29.123 |  M-3 (Gratiot Avenue) –Mount Clemens,Detroit | ||
| Eastpointe–Harper Woods city line | 19.731 | 31.754 | 8 Mile Road east | M-102 follows Vernier Road; 8 Mile continues east to Mack Avenue | |
| Wayne | Harper Woods | 20.804 | 33.481 | I-94 –Port Huron,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 | |||||
