The "super-highways" of Detroit

[tradephoric]

An interesting article that describes the process that took place in metro Detroit during the 1920's to plan and construct the regions "super-highways" as they were known at the time.  Eight thoroughfares were selected to be designated as "super-highways" including Woodward Avenue, Stephenson Highway, Northwestern Highway, Southfield Road, Grand River, Sunset Boulevard, Eight Mile Road and Wyoming Highway. 

These roads were designed using a 204 foot right-of-way, wide enough for two strips of concrete each 44 feet wide, with a boulevard between them to allow space for 2 rails of inter-urban transit.  Although the trolleys in Detroit died a slow death  (with the last line ending in 1956) the extra wide boulevards would become useful when in 1967 the first of many Michigan left turns was constructed at the intersection of 8 Mile & Livernois. 

There was no link to this article and apologize for the long post in advance.

Wider Highways...

The Legend of the Super-Highway (1928 Oakland Highways report)

The automobile has brought many changes to a world which a scant quarter of a century ago was still skeptical of the "horseless carriage."   Today the whole habits of a nation have been changed by the quick transportation which motor cars have made possible.  Great cities are greater and small towns have lost their lonely air, while every rural dweller has at least one car in which to whirl away to town on business or pleasure bent.

With the development and perfection of the automobile, but one thing was needed to bring about its universal use.  That was the building of good roads.  Slowly at first, but more rapidly with each succeeding year, the public has realized the necessity of constructing hard-surfaced highways, until today no main traveled road is left without its long smooth strip of pavement and a flood of traffic moves across it which was not dreamed of a few short years ago.

First came the single strip of paving, 12 and 14 feet wide.  Then these single strips proved inadequate for the traffic which already was pouring out from the larger cities and the first 16 foot road was built.  Surely here was the master pavement, a roadway which would care for the motorcar needs for many years.

But the automobile factories ran on and on.  More and more cars poured out onto the newly built hard surfaced roads until the need for wider and still wider highways became apparent.  Then came the first 24 foot roads, and the more progressive communities set aside much wider rights of way for future expansion of the existing widths of concrete.
    
Hardly more than a decade ago, far seeing traffic men coined a new word.  They declared a super-highway was needed to care for the tremendously concentrated traffic which was filling the roadways around Detroit and other large cities.  The super-highway was to dwarf anything previously built, anything then known.
    
For years super-highways existed only in the dreams of the highway engineers and of those public spirited pioneers who led in the arousing of public sentiment to a point where sufficient legislative appropriations could be secured to make a start at actual construction.  Then gradually sketches came into circulation.  Pictures were drawn.  The public came to see that here was an inevitable development.
    
Woodward Avenue, running between Pontiac and Detroit, was the logical road to be made into the first great super-highway in the world.  Here was a great traffic artery, running between two great automobile building cities, over which heavier traffic moved than was to be found almost anywhere in the world.  It was not until 1916 that a 16 foot pavement had been completed from Detroit to Pontiac.

Cities, towns, villages and road commissions finally got together after much agitation and formed a Wider Woodward Avenue Association, drafted and secured passage of a special act of the legislature and later interested state authorities in making the super-highway a state project.
    
Just as traffic congestion had forced the widening of Woodward Avenue, so increasing congestion on other highways made some action imperative, and the whole idea of a highway and super-highway plan for the entire area about Detroit began to take shape. 
    
In 1922 the Detroit Rapid Transit Commission was appointed and in 1923 it laid down the design of a 204-foot super highway, with provision for rail traffic between two parallel strips of concrete.  The Rapid Transit Commission collaborated with the Road Commissions of Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties, the Detroit City Plan Commission and the various municipalities with the fifteen mile circle in the preparation of a master plan of super-highways and interior thoroughfares.  All of the cities, villages and counties affected later adopted this general plan in which super highway widths were fixed at 204 feet, lesser super highways and mile roads at 120 feet and half mile roads at 86 feet. 
    
In 1925 the Darin law was passed by the State Legislature, making possible the organization of super highway commissions by two or more county road commissions to secure rights of way of inter-county highways.  Improvement of these rights of way and actual construction of these highways must be done by the individual county in which the road lies.
    
Oakland County's Board of Supervisors approved formation of an Oakland-Wayne Super Highway Commission, under a contract dated Nov. 1, 1925, and extending for five years from that date.  The Super Highway Commission is composed of the state highway commissioner and the three highway commissioners from each of the affected counties.  The contract provides that the moneys raised to finance the operations of this commission shall be payable from the county road fund and shall not exceed $3,045.15 annually, and that the amount to be raised in Oakland County shall be in the same proportion as the assessed valuation of the counties of Oakland and Wayne for the year 1925 may bear to each other.
    
After a great deal of effort and preliminary organization work, propaganda and political maneuvering the Woodward widening was begun and today it has been finished except for a few miles where the presence of the Grand Trunk railroad tracks prevents its completion on one side between Pontiac and Birmingham.

Two great ribbons of concrete lie in parallel lines, carrying southward traffic on the western strip and northbound on the east.  Each strip of concrete is 40 feet wide, exclusive of the curb and gutters, so that ample room is provided for four cars to move abreast in each direction.  Counting the gutters, 44 feet of driving space is available.  Between these two great strips of concrete lie the tracks of the D. U. R., now the Eastern Michigan Railways.
   
The 88 feet of pavement which comprise the two parallel strips, and the inter-urban railway tracks lie in the center of a right of way which is 204 feet in width, a far cry indeed for the 16 foot roadway which at first seemed so roomy a thoroughfare over this same motor route from Pontiac to Detroit.  All the way from Pontiac to the Detroit city limits at the Eight Mile road the super highway is lighted by electricity, the crowning touch of a huge job carried out by the State of Michigan which has set the pace for other cities and states in the matter of super highways. 
   
About five miles remain along which only one side of the widening has been completed, but negotiations are now under way for moving the railroad tracks along this stretch so that soon it is hoped the super highway will be completed throughout its entire distance of 13.2 miles.  When completed, the two strip arrangements of the pavement will be carried throughout the entire length of the highway, with the exception of that portion which lies within the village limits of Birmingham.  Here the road has been widened greatly, but the paving is unbroken from side to side.
   
That the super highway is the only effective method of caring for such volume of traffic as must pass over Woodward avenue and other similar highways in the vicinity of large cities is shown by traffic counts which have been taken from year to year along this route. 
   
Counts taken at the Seventeen Mile road on Woodward Avenue over 24 hour periods show that in the year 1924 some 7,878 vehicles passed a given spot in one day.  The following year a count at the same spot found the total rising to 10,268 vehicles; then 21,706 in 1926; 34,100 in 1927, and 35,406 in 1928.  Similar counts taken nearer Detroit, at the Nine Mile road, showed the following totals:
   Year         
   1924........................15,154
   1925........................18,268
   1926........................38,862
   1927........................48,512
   1928........................60,098
   
When the widening of Woodward Avenue began many farms were being tilled along its distance between Pontiac and Birmingham and between Birmingham and Royal Oak.  Today scarcely a farm remains along the entire 13 miles.  A great residence community has been built up and suburban homes now dot the landscape and bid fair within the next few years to build up both sides of the super highway completely from Pontiac to Detroit.
   
These traffic counts not only justify the construction of this first great super highway, but they indicate that other super highways must immediately be constructed to care for the growing volume of motor vehicles which are moving over Oakland County's thoroughfares in constantly increasing numbers. 

Thus far eight great super highways have been projected for Oakland County, of which only Woodward Avenue has been completed at anywhere near its ultimate width over any portion of its length.  The so-called super highways are of two clases of importance, the first and most important, like Woodward, being laid out on rights of way 204 feet wide, which will accommodate two strips of concrete each 44 feet wide, with a boulevard between them, and with sufficient space on either side of the concrete roadways to provide adequate graveled shoulders and grading the roadway up from drainage ditches.
   
The less important super highways are to be 120 feet in width in their rights of way, while still less important highways will have rights of way 86 feet in width.  Even these latter will permit of two 20 foot strips of concrete, sufficient to handle a vast amount of traffic due to the separation of the two traffic lanes over which vehicles move in opposite directions.
   
The super highways which are to have 204 foot rights of way are Woodward Avenue, Stephenson Highway, Northwestern Highway, Southfield Road, Grand River, Sunset Boulevard, Eight Mile Road and Wyoming Highway.
   
Telegraph Road is to be 150 feet in width and is to be completed in 1929, the northern five miles of this road having been paved during 1928.  In 1929 the portion will be paved from Grand River north to the Square Lake road, from which point the completed pavement now extends northward to the intersection with M 10, the Dixie Highway. 
   
The Stevenson Highway extends northerly from the Eight Mile Road to the intersection of the Rochester Road at Big Beaver.  It is to be extended later all the way to Rochester, a total distance of 17 ½ miles.  Right of way has now been acquired for six miles.  Already two 20 foot strips of pavement have been laid for one and one-half miles and a single 20 foot strip extends an additional one and a half miles.  During 1929 it is planned to build five additional miles carrying the two 20 foot pavements.
   
The Northwestern Highway extends from the Eight Mile Road in the southeast corner of Section 26, Southfield Township, northwesterly through Southfield, Farmington, West Bloomfield, Commerce, White Lake, Highland and Rose Townships to the Livingston County line, approximately 30 miles.  About three miles of right of way has been dedicated.
   
A petition for the construction of the southerly 10 miles has been accepted by the State Highway Department as an inter-county Covert Act road to be constructed during 1929.  Surveys and plans are completed and hearings held.  Right of way is being secured and will be completed by condemnation, so that this project will be well under way during 1929.
   
A 20-foot road was paved on the Southfield Road right of way from the Eight Mile Road to Birmingham before this highway was established as a 204-foot super highway project.  The widened right of way has been dedicated for practically the entire distance of six and a half miles, so that when the need develops this highway can be widened to accommodate much heavier traffic.
   
South of the Oakland County line at the Eight Mile Road, the Southfield Road extends to Michigan Avenue and thence southeasterly to Ecorse Road in the City of Lincoln Park.  This super highway thus intersects all east and west roads out of Detroit, Royal Oak and Birmingham.
   
Eight Mile Road is to be made a 204 foot right of way all the way from its intersection with Grand River Avenue easterly to Vernier Road and thence southeasterly along Vernier Road to Mack Avenue.  Court petitions are now in on this road, which will be constructed as an assessment district road.

The portion of Grand River lying in Oakland County, lying between Base Line Road and a point near the City of Farmington, is a 204-foot project and is to be widened by the State during 1929.
   
A 40-foot pavement is being laid on Telegraph Road and this project is to be completed during 1929 through the co-operation of the State and Federal governments.  When completed it will extend from M-10 north of Pontiac to Toledo, skirting all cities and villages enroute and providing an ideal highway for through north and south traffic, as well as an additional traffic artery for residents of the communities lying adjacent to it.
   
Sunset Boulevard has been petitioned for improvement during 1929.  It extends from the Eight Mile Road northwesterly through Royal Oak and Southfield Townships to the Twelve Mile Road.  No work has yet been done on this project, but its width has been established at 204 feet.
   
Dequindre Highway has been built by the State as an inter-county Covert Act road lying between Oakland and Macomb Counties, extending northward from the Eight Mile Road to Auburn Avenue approximately 13 miles.  The present pavement is 20 feet wide, on a 120 foot right of way, which permits of considerable expansion in the pavement as the need arises.  This highway intercepts all east and west roads between the two counties.
   
That Oakland County's township officials are co-operating in the task of providing for future super highways is shown by the action already taken in Farmington, West Bloomfield, Southfield, Avon, Troy and Royal Oak Townships.  All these townships now require that all section line roads and improved highways have 120 foot rights of way, while all quarter section line roads are to have 86 foot rights of way.  In the future any plat to be approved will have to provide such widths, dedicating the necessary land to the township or county. 
   
In general, it is planned that an 86-foot wide right-of-way will accommodate two  20-foot strips of concrete, with a 20 foot strip lying between them for inter-urban tracks to be added later or for additional pavement as the future may dictate.  The remaining 26 feet would provide a 13 foot strip on either side of the highway for walks, shoulders and parkways.

On the 120-foot width highways as ultimately developed, the plan calls for a central pavement of a minimum width of 40 feet for high speed traffic, then a five-foot parking zone, and outside that a 20-foot pavement on either side for slower traffic, with a 1-foot space at the outside edges for shoulders and sidewalks.
   
On the 20 foot right-of-way there is room for inter-urban tracks or additional paving or parkways occupying 84 feet, with a 45-foot pavement on either side and 15 feet left for shoulders for parking, sidewalks, parkways, etc.
   
Complete engineering plans have also been prepared to provide ultimately, if necessary for grade separations at intersections of two 204-foot super highways.  According to these plans, the slower traffic lines could cross at the same grade as surrounding property.  One super-highway's swift moving traffic would cross this intersection at a higher level and the other super-highway at a lower level, with provisions for curving, connecting links to enable traffic to transfer from one super-highway to another without congestion at the intersection.
   
Where a 204-foot super-highway intersects a 120-foot or 96-foot highway, there could ultimately be arranged a two-level grade separation, but thus far it has not been found necessary to provide any grade separations, as traffic congestion on the existing super-highways has not reached a point to necessitate such further development.
   
Such a system of grade separations would eliminate the necessity of stop streets.  Traffic would flow at high speed continually on the super-highways, enabling hundreds of thousands of cars to be accommodated where under present conditions thousands only could operate with safety.  This development remains, however, in the future.

Oakland County is in the very forefront in this effort to solve the highway transportation problem which has arisen from the tremendous development of the motor car.  From all over the United States traffic experts come to study the plan as it has been worked out here.
   
Just as the arteries carry the blood to all parts of the human body, so do these super-highways serve as traffic arteries to the equally stead streams of vehicles which move over them.  Transportation and communication are indeed the very lifeblood of commerce and the importance of super-highways bids fair to increase rather than decrease with each passing year. 

[architect77]

Awesome photos! It's interesting how they did a better job back then of erecting upright power poles and powerlines. Seems like today they no longer care.

[theline]

How forward thinking they were! They were even anticipating future grade separations where the super-highways crossed. Thanks for sharing.

[tradephoric]

Reading the article i was surprised how quickly the traffic counts rose along Woodward after it was widened from a 2-lane road to a full blown 8-lane boulevard.  Here are some good pictures of the grade separation at Woodward & 8 Mile:

[tradephoric]

There was some talk about removing the grade separation at 8 Mile & Woodward that was originally constructed in 1956.  In the end, MDOT moved forward with rehabilitating the existing bridge.

MDOT PRESS RELEASE:

Public participation will continue as MDOT moves forward with rehabilitation of existing 8 Mile Bridge

July 12, 2005 - - The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) today announced that the Granholm Administration has completed its review of a major Detroit intersection and has determined that the existing Woodward Avenue/8 Mile Road bridge will be rehabilitated. The design process will begin next month when MDOT holds public meetings in Detroit on August 11 at the MDOT Metro Region Office and August 25 at the Michigan State Fairgrounds to solicit community input for the project. Rehabilitation costs for the project, expected to be completed by July 2007, are estimated at $6.3 million.

"The decision to rehabilitate the bridge (originally constructed in 1956) required a comprehensive environmental and economic impact analysis," said MDOT Metro Region Engineer Gregory Johnson. "Public input, cost and safety factors, as well as regional mobility needs, ultimately led to the decision to rehabilitate the existing structure."

In 2003, MDOT began an Environmental Assessment study focusing on alternatives that involved removing or reconstructing the 8 Mile Bridge -- examining the potential impacts associated with each alternative as related to traffic, safety and the historical significance of the aging structure. Throughout the process, MDOT actively solicited the participation of citizens, neighborhood groups and elected officials — all of whom advocated vigorously for their communities.

"We continue taking a context sensitive approach to this project," said Johnson, "That means community input will be vital during the design phase, so that the result is a structure reflecting the shared vision of Detroit and Ferndale residents and an intersection that is safer for motorists and pedestrians."

MDOT estimates that approximately 120,000 vehicles use the intersection of Woodward Avenue and 8 Mile Road every day.