 M-39 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southfield Road, Southfield Freeway | ||||
 M-39 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byMDOT | ||||
| Length | 17.006 mi[1] (27.369 km) | |||
| Existed | c. 1959[2][3]–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end | Lafayette Boulevard inLincoln Park | |||
| Major intersections |
| |||
| North end |  M-10 in Southfield | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Michigan | |||
| Counties | Wayne,Oakland | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
M-39 is a 16-mile-long (26 km) north–southstate trunkline highway inMetro Detroit area of the US state ofMichigan that runs fromLincoln Park, on the south end, toSouthfield on the north. The official southern terminus of M-39 is at the corner of Southfield Road and Lafayette Boulevard in Lincoln Park, one block southeast of the junction ofInterstate 75 (I-75, Fisher Freeway) and two blocks northwest ofM-85 (Fort Street). From there the highway heads northward. The first 2.3 miles (3.7 km) of the highway follows Southfield Road, adivided highway in theDownriver area. It then transitions into theSouthfield Freeway, which is a 13.7-mile-long (22.0 km)freeway that runs fromI-94 inAllen Park north throughDearborn, and then the west side ofDetroit, to Southfield. The northern terminus is atM-10 (Lodge Freeway) in Southfield.
The current M-39 is the third highway to bear the designation. The first dated back to the origins of the state highway system in 1919 and ran betweenGrand Rapids andLansing. This highway was replaced in segments through the 1920s and 1930s by realignments or extensions of other highways in the area. The second was part of Schaefer Highway in the Detroit area from 1939 until the end of the 1950s. The current highway was commissioned when the M-39 designation was moved to Southfield Road from Schaefer Highway. During the 1960s, it was converted into a freeway in stages. Afterwards, it was extended to end at M-85 (Fort Street) before a change in the 1980s gave the trunkline its present termini.
M-39 begins at Lafayette Boulevard a block east of its junction with I-75 in Lincoln Park along Southfield Road, which continues east-southeasterly past the start of the M-39 designation under local maintenance. From there the road is a six-laneboulevard through residential areas as it runs west-northwesterly to pass under I-75[4][5] and an adjacentConrail Shared Assets Operations rail line.[6] InAllen Park, the highway continues through residential and commercial areas.[4][5] Southfield Road crosses lines of theCanadian National Railway andNorfolk Southern Railway[6] near the location where the highway turns to the northeast and transitions into a six-lane limited-access freeway. Immediately after this transition, the Southfield Freeway, as M-39 is now called, has an interchange with I-94. There is a second, adjacent interchange that connects to Van Born Road, and the freeway winds its way northeasterly throughDearborn. The freeway is bordered byservice drives that carryone-way traffic and bear the Southfield Road name on either side. M-39 meetsOuter Drive next to theFairlane Green power center. The adjoining properties are residential to the west and commercial to the east. NearGreenfield Village, the freeway curves to the northwest around theFord Proving Grounds before turning to the north, a direction it will maintain until the end of its run. The freeway crosses theRiver Rouge, passes under the line used by theAmtrakWolverine,[6] and meetsUS Highway 12 (US 12, Michigan Avenue) next to theFairlane Town Center andFord Motor Company's world headquarters in Dearborn near the campus of theUniversity of Michigan–Dearborn.[4][5]
North of the interchange forM-153, (Ford Road), M-39 crosses into Detroit. From there the road continues through the densely populated areas of the west side of the city.[4][5] Next to the Chicago Road overpass, the freeway runs under aCSX Transportation rail line.[6] The trunkline continues traveling to the north through a series of interchanges. The first is apartial interchange for Plymouth Road; northbound traffic exiting here is directed to use the service drive northbound to access Schoolcraft Road, and traffic can enter M-39 southbound. Next is thestack interchange withI-96 (Jeffries Freeway) with access to both thelocal and express lanes of that freeway. The last of the series is another partial interchange with Schoolcraft Road. As a counterpart to the Plymouth Road interchange, this one provides access from southbound M-39 to the cross street with a signed connection along the southbound service drive to Plymouth Road and an entry point for northbound traffic. Continuing north, M-39 comes to an interchange withM-5 (Grand River Avenue) which also connects to Fenkell Avenue,[4][5] the 5 Mile Road equivalent on Detroit'smile road system.[7]
There are three more interchanges along M-39 in Detroit as the freeway continues through the residential upper west side. Near theWayne Community College District, the freeway meets McNichols Road (6 Mile). There is another interchange approximately one mile (1.6 km) north at 7 Mile Road as well. The road then crosses the border betweenWayne andOakland counties to enterSouthfield at the interchange withM-102 (8 Mile Road). The Southfield Freeway, and M-39, terminates at an interchange withM-10 (John C. Lodge Freeway) near 9 Mile Road. Southfield Road continues northward from the end of the freeway under local maintenance.[4][5]
M-39 is maintained by theMichigan 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 calledannual 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-39 were the 159,400 vehicles daily between Schoolcraft Road and Grand River Avenue in Detroit; the lowest counts were the 20,400 vehicles per day between the I-94 and Van Born Road interchanges.[8] All of M-39, and Southfield Road on either end that is not under state maintenance, has been listed on theNational Highway System,[9] a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.[10]
Two previous highways bore the M-39 designation. When the state highway system was first signed in 1919,[11] the number was assigned to a highway that ran betweenGrand Rapids andLansing.[12] The westernmost end in Kent County nearAlto was replaced by a realignedM-16.[13][14] Within the next few years, the western end was scaled back further to theWoodbury area whenM-50 was extended,[15] with the remainder replaced by an extendedM-43 around 1938.[16][17]
The next trunkline to be designated M-39 was Schaefer Highway in 1939, running north–south fromUS 25/M-17 (at the five-way intersection of Schaefer, Oakwood Boulevard, and Francis Street) in Melvindale toUS 16 (Grand River Avenue) in western Detroit.[18][19] Since M-39 was moved to Southfield Road in the end of the 1950s, Schaefer Highway has been a locally maintained road.[2][3]
M-39 was reassigned to Southfield Road, which parallels Schaefer Highway two miles (3.2 km) to the west, connecting I-94 with Northwestern Highway in 1958-59.[2][3] By 1961, the freeway was marked as under construction on maps.[20] The first section opened in December 1961 was 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from Ford Road north to Chicago Road. The remainder of the freeway between I-94 and the Lodge Freeway and 9 Mile Road was opened by the middle of 1964 at a total cost of $40 million.[21] The highway designation was extended southeasterly along Southfield Road to the new I-75 freeway and a terminus atM-85 (Fort Street) in 1966.[22][23] In 1987, the M-39 designation was truncated slightly so that the trunkline no longer officially connects to M-85.[24][25]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne | Lincoln Park | 0.000 | 0.000 | Lafayette Boulevard Southfield Road south | Roadway continues southeast as Southfield Road | |
| 0.172– 0.186 | 0.277– 0.299 |  I-75 –Detroit,Toledo | Exit 41 on I-75 | |||
| Allen Park | 2.169 | 3.491 | Southern end of freeway | |||
| 2.423– 2.444 | 3.899– 3.933 | 1 |  I-94 –Detroit,Chicago | Exit 204 on I-94 | ||
| Dearborn Heights | 2.593– 2.600 | 4.173– 4.184 | 2 | Van Born Road | Northbound exit and southbound entrance; northbound exit ramp attached to exit 1; southbound exit and northbound entrance are at exit 3 | |
| Dearborn | 3.254– 3.269 | 5.237– 5.261 | 3 | Outer Drive | Signed as Outer Drive and Van Born Road southbound | |
| 4.258 | 6.853 | 4 | Oakwood Boulevard | |||
| 4.901 | 7.887 | 5 | Rotunda Drive | Additional northbound entrance at exit 6 | ||
| 5.885– 5.904 | 9.471– 9.502 | 6 |  US 12 (Michigan Avenue) | Access toU of M-Dearborn,Henry Ford CC, andFairlane Town Center; northbound access to Hubbard Drive | ||
| 7.141– 7.152 | 11.492– 11.510 | 7 |  M-153 (Ford Road) | Access toFairlane Town Center; southbound access to Hubbard Drive | ||
| Detroit | 8.138 | 13.097 | 8 | Warren Avenue | ||
| 9.137 | 14.705 | 9 | Joy Road | |||
| 10.131 | 16.304 | 10 | Plymouth Road, Schoolcraft Avenue | Northbound exit and southbound entrance; connection to Schoolcraft Avenue by way of the service drive | ||
| 10.556– 10.629 | 16.988– 17.106 | 11A |  I-96 (Jeffries Freeway) –Lansing,Downtown Detroit | Exit 183 on I-96 | ||
| 11.130 | 17.912 | 11B | Schoolcraft Avenue, Plymouth Road | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; connection to Plymouth Road by way of the service drive | ||
| 12.094 | 19.463 | 12 |  M-5 (Grand River Avenue) / Fenkell Avenue | |||
| 13.122 | 21.118 | 13 | McNichols Road | |||
| 14.744 | 23.728 | 14 | 7 Mile Road | |||
| Wayne–Oakland county line | Detroit–Southfield city line | 15.721– 15.745 | 25.300– 25.339 | 15 |  M-102 (8 Mile Road) | |
| Oakland | Southfield | 16.631– 17.006 | 26.765– 27.369 | 16 |     M-10 north (Lodge Freeway) toI-696 west –LansingSouthfield Road north | Directional access from M-39 to M-10 (northbound to northbound and southbound to southbound only); exit 14C on M-10; roadway continues north as Southfield Road |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | ||||||
