M-102
8 Mile Road
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length:	20.804 mi[2] (33.481 km)
Existed:	1928[1] – present
Major intersections
West end:	M-5 at Livonia
Major junctions:	US 24 at Southfield M-39 / M-10 at Southfield M-1 , M-1 at Detroit M-53 / M-97 at Warren M-3 at Eastpointe
East end:	I-94 at Harper Woods
Location
Counties:	Wayne, Oakland, Macomb County
Highway system
Michigan highways Interstate • US • State • Special • CDH ← US 102 M-103 →

M-102 is a state trunkline in the US state of Michigan, running along the northern boundary of Detroit. It is known as 8 Mile Road for most of its length. M-102 is the physical and psychological boundary between Detroit and the northern suburbs. M-102 is routed on only a portion of 8 Mile Road which extends both east and west of the M-102 designation. The routing of M-102 changes to Vernier Road just west of Beaconsfield Road. M-102's eastern terminus is at the junction of Vernier and I-94. Its western terminus is at the junction of 8 Mile Road and M-5/Grand River Avenue. The 8 Mile Road designation continues west to Pontiac Trail near South Lyon. A discontinuous portion of 8 Mile is located west of US 23 as well.

8 Mile Road

8 Mile Road Exit off I-94

The boundary between the city of Detroit (and Wayne County) and Detroit's northern suburbs in Oakland and Macomb counties is formed by 8 Mile Road. Residents of Detroit, and, as a whole, the state of Michigan, refer to this road (and other "mile" roads) as "Eight Mile", or "Eight" (as in 8 and Woodward). It extends west of Detroit and is also the boundary between Wayne and Washtenaw counties on the south and Macomb, Oakland, and Livingston counties on the north. Past Middlebelt Road in Livonia, 8 Mile Road becomes known as Base Line Road because it was the base line for surveying the Northwest Territories.

8 Mile Road Exit right outside of Detroit, Michigan

The name comes from the Mile Road System, a method used to delineate east/west roads through the Detroit area. Mile roads begin at the intersection of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in downtown Detroit; therefore 8 Mile Road is approximately 8 miles (13 km) north of that point. 8 Mile Road ends at Marshall Road in Green Oak township.

8 Mile road overpass

8 Mile Road generally follows a straight line east of Northville. Between Griswold Street and Taft Road, 8 Mile bends toward the north, avoiding the city center before returning to its base line. Further west, 8 Mile crosses Pontiac Trail (which connects South Lyon and Ann Arbor) before becoming a dirt road; it then ends about a mile east of Whitmore Lake. West of Whitmore Lake, 8 Mile Road picks up briefly and crosses US 23. The far western end of 8 Mile past US 23, at a junction with Hall Road, a local road near Hamburg.

History

M-102

The eastern terminus of M-102 changed a number of times before the completion of I-94. Initially ending at US 25/Gratiot Avenue (present-day M-3, M-102 was, for a time, extended east, then north, to connect with M-29. However, once I-94 was completed, M-102's eastern terminus became fixed at the new freeway.^[1]

Prior to the completion of the Jeffries Freeway (present day I-96), M-102 had the same western terminus as today, but for several years, M-102 extended onto a segment of what is now M-5 between the present western terminus for M-102 and the major freeway junction for M-5, I-96, I-696 and I-275. The freeway portion had previously carried I-96, as the Jeffries had originally been proposed to run along Grand River Avenue (which was signed as BS I-96). As I-96 was rerouted, Grand River southeast of its junction with 8 Mile became M-5, and M-102 was thus extended along Grand River and the former I-96. In 1994, a northerly extension originally planned as part of I-275 opened, and M-102 was scaled back to the junction of 8 Mile and Grand River, while M-5 was lengthened to include the new extension.^[1]

8 Mile Road

While not very significant prior to the 1950s, 8 Mile Road is one of Michigan's more familiar roads. Starting out as dirt road, 8 Mile was designated as M-102 in 1928. It was around this time when 8 Mile was widened into a divided highway between Gratiot and Woodward, where M-102 originally ran. As more people started moving out to that area, 8 Mile Road was widened into a divided highway west of Woodward, all the way to Grand River in 1942, where M-102 was extended. In the early 1960s, 8 Mile Road was widened from a total of four lanes (two lanes on each side of the divided highway) to a total of eight lanes (four lanes on each side of the divided highway), much like it is, today. This was due to the growing population of Detroit suburbs such as Ferndale, Oak Park, Warren, Hazel Park, and Southfield.

Cultural impact

Racial and economic divide

The road has long served as a de facto cultural dividing line between the predominantly poor African-American city and its wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs. (The suburbs of Grosse Pointe are exceptions to this cultural dividing line since they are white affluent suburbs south of 8 Mile Road. Harper Woods is another exception, being traditionally white but not affluent.) Although in fact this line has become blurred as certain communities immediately north of the road (notably Southfield, Saint Clair Shores, and Oak Park) have gained black residents in recent years, 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.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census,^[3] 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.

Urban renewal

Parts of the city of Detroit are experiencing urban renewal; neighborhoods which middle-class people would have generally avoided in the recent past^[when?] have become more fashionable.^{[citation needed]} A new mall called The Shoppes at Gateway Park is planned for the southeast corner of 8 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue. The mall is expected to break ground in 2009 with an estimated completion date of 2011. It is planned to include more than 40 different retailers. Meijer has also shown an interest in opening a store at this location, which would make Meijer the first grocery chain in the city of Detroit.^{[citation needed]} JC Penney initially showed major interest in being an anchor for the shopping center, but backed out due to financial issues at the corporate level.

The Joe Dumars Fieldhouse development includes state of the art basketball and volleyball courts and is located on the state fairgrounds.^[4]

In film

The movie 8 Mile, starring Detroit area hip hop artist Eminem, as well as his songs "Lose Yourself" and "8 Mile", both take their names and subject matter from this high-traffic and broad thoroughfare.

8 Mile in music

There are a number of songs that refer to 8 Mile Road:

• Eminem - Lose Yourself
• Eminem - Encore/Curtains Down
• Eminem - 8 Mile
• Eminem ft. 50 Cent - 8 More Miles
• Eminem - Yellow Brick Road
• Eminem - Mockingbird
• Uncle Kracker ft. Kid Rock and Paradime - Heaven
• 50 Cent - Places to Go
• The Game ft. Eminem - We Ain't
• The Game ft. Lil Wayne - My Life
• Freeway ft. Jay-Z - 8 Miles and Runnin'
• Proof - Many Men (Remix)

8 Mile in surveying

8 Mile Road is also known as Base Line Road, and marks the baseline used in the survey of Michigan land. It forms the boundary for many southern Michigan counties. Prior to the system used in Michigan, county boundaries were often set by geographic markers such as rivers, hills, and trees, and were therefore rather irregular. Michigan counties in the Lower Peninsula tend to be regularly bounded, and evenly sized, except in the cases of counties bordering one of the Great Lakes.

Where 8 Mile deviates from the base line in Northville, a portion of Base Line Road is a residential street, running from Old Novi Road to Center Street (Sheldon Road). Running slightly off alignment east of Old Novi because of a tributary of the River Rouge, Base Line reconnects to 8 Mile via Griswold Street.

Major intersections

Mile points are only given along the M-102 designation.

County	Location	Mile[2]	Destinations	Notes
Livingston	Hamburg		Hall Road
Washtenaw	Whitmore Lake		US 23	Exit 53
Gap in 8 Mile Road
Oakland	South Lyon		Pontiac Trail
	Farmington Hills		I-96 / I-275	Exit 167 on I-96/I-275
Wayne	Livonia	0.000	M-5	Western terminus of M-102
Oakland	Southfield		US 24 (Telegraph Road)	Southern side of highway is in Detroit from here east
			M-39 (Southfield Freeway)
		6.015	M-10 (Lodge Freeway)
	Ferndale	10.059	M-1 (Woodward Avenue)
	Hazel Park		I-75 (Chrysler Freeway)	Exit 59 on I-75
Macomb	Warren		M-53 (Van Dyke Road)
			M-97 (Groesbeck Highway)
	Eastpointe	18.096	M-3 (Gratiot Avenue)
M-102 follows Vernier Road 8 Mile continues east to Mack Avenue
Wayne	Harper Woods	20.804	I-94	Eastern terminus of M-102

See also

• Mile Road System

References

External links

• M-102 Endpoint Photos
• Eight Mile Redevelopment