M-10 (Michigan highway)

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John C. Lodge Freeway
Northwestern Highway Maintained by MDOT
Length:	22.88 mi[1] (36.82 km)
Formed:	Current route, 1986
South end:	M-3/BS I-375 in Downtown Detroit
Major junctions:	I-75 in Downtown Detroit I-94 in Detroit M-8 near Highland Park M-39 in Southfield I-696 in Southfield
North end:	Orchard Lake Road in West Bloomfield
Counties:	Wayne & Oakland
Michigan highways < US-10 M-11 > < M-3 M-5 >

M-10, also known as the John C. Lodge Freeway, and Northwestern Highway is a state trunkline route in the U.S. state of Michigan. The southernmost portion follows Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit, and the southern terminus is at the intersection of Jefferson and Randolph Street. The northern terminus is in West Bloomfield at the intersection with Orchard Lake Road. M-10 was built in segments throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s. It carried several different names before the entire route was finally officially named The John C. Lodge Freeway in 1987^[2]. M-10 was named after John C. Lodge, an influential Detroiter and mayor of Detroit from 1927-1928.

[edit] Route description

[edit] John C. Lodge freeway portion

This freeway, almost always referred to as "the Lodge" rather than by route number or full name, is one of several major highways in metropolitan Detroit running northwesterly from downtown to the Oakland County suburbs. The freeway portion of M-10 ends at "The Mixing Bowl" — the local name for the sprawling interchange of I-696, US-24/Telegraph Rd, the Lodge, Northwestern Hwy, Lahser Rd and Franklin Rd in Southfield. The M-10 designation continues for several miles beyond as a four to six-lane divided highway.

Southfield Town Center along the Lodge.

The John C. Lodge Expressway was originally constructed and opened without any state trunkline route designation until it was assigned as a part of US 12 in the 1950s. US 12 ran along the Lodge from the Edsel Ford Freeway (now I-94) into downtown Detroit. Then it was assigned as Business Spur I-696 in 1961 or 1962 immediately before the completion of the first phase of I-696 in 1964.^[3] It was signed as a business spur of I-696 as a way to circumvent the elements it had that rendered it substandard to the Interstate Highway System. Soon after, though, the Lodge became part of US 10 when that route was removed from Woodward Avenue. In 1986, when US 10 was truncated at Bay City, the Lodge was redesignated as M-10. The southernmost portion was also redesignated as a portion of BS I-375 on paper from I-75 south. When the US 10 shields were removed, they were universally replaced with M-10 shields instead of BS I-375 shields.^[4]

With the Michigan Department of Transportation's deemphasization of proper names historically used by Metro Detroiters for the area's Interstates, the Lodge is now one of only three in the Detroit area universally referred to by name rather than route number — the others being the Davison Freeway (M-8) and the Southfield Freeway (M-39).

The Lodge was originally made up of three legs with unique names: the John C. Lodge ran from Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit to Wyoming Avenue; the James Couzens ran from Wyoming to M-102/8 Mile Road; and the portion north of 8 Mile was named Northwestern Highway (see below). While the service drives retain the existing names, the freeway itself has come to be referred to as the Lodge for its entire length.

I-94's intersection with M-10, built in 1953 before the Interstate system was even developed, is significant as the first full freeway-to-freeway interchange built in the United States.^[5]

From 2006 to 2007, the Lodge underwent major reconstruction to ease traffic congestion in the metro area temporarily closing down much of the freeway.^[6] The $133-million project included concrete pavement reconstruction and rehabilitation, new barrier walls, repairs or replacements to 50 bridges, upgrades to 22 ramps, utility upgrades, and replacement of freeway signs between Lahser Road in Southfield and Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.^[7]

[edit] Northwestern Highway portion

The portion of M-10 from "The Mixing Bowl" until its terminus with Orchard Lake Rd and Fourteen Mile Rd is known as Northwestern Highway. It was designed as a scenic divided four to six-lane sloping highway with a wide tree lined center median. Travelling Southbound down the hills gives a scenic view of distant downtown Detroit contrasted with the surrounding woodland area. Unfortunately, the build up of office and medical buildings on Northwestern has lessened the experience over the years.

During the 1950s, this highway was proposed to be extended as far as the Fenton-Clio Expressway (US 23) at Fenton, but was cancelled when I-75 was, instead, routed between Detroit and Flint via Pontiac. A Northwestern Highway extension was again proposed in the late 1960s to connect with the proposed I-275 extension. When the I-275 project was cancelled in the late-1970s, the Northwestern extension was ostensibly cancelled as well, although a dispute between the Road Commission for Oakland County and the Michigan Department of Transportation lasted through the 1990s. Due to the continuing development of the land along the proposed right-of-way (including a strip mall right at the current terminus of M-10), the Northwestern extension will likely never be built as planned.

Up until the Lodge was stripped of its US 10 designation, this portion of modern-day M-10 was designated as M-4.

[edit] History

[edit] Previous incarnations of M-10

The Lodge Freeway is the third distinct iteration of the M-10 designation since Michigan first posted its highway designations in 1918. Note: All incarnations of M-10 also had parts designated as US 10 at one time.

The first iteration of M-10 utilized the present-day segments of these following highways; US 24, M-13, US 23 and M-33 (former alignment of US 23). This first iteration of M-10 also coincided with the Dixie Highway (east branch) in much of its length.

The second iteration of M-10 was, technically, the much-reduced remnant of the original, first iteration of the route in the Flint area, serving as a business connection for the city as the through route, US 10, bypassed it on the east. This second M-10 iteration was later re-designated as BUS US 10, then as BUS M-54 in the 1960s before being turned back to local control in the 1980s.

[edit] Previous designations along M-10

M-4 was the original designation of |M-10/Northwestern Highway from I-696/US 24 to the northern terminus. M-4 was known as Northwestern Highway - back when M-10 was known as US 10 (Lodge Freeway), M-4 extended North West past where US 10 and US 24 (Telegraph Road) intersected. When US 10 was changed to M-10, the M-4 section became part of M-10.

The Lodge was Business Spur I-696 in 1961 or 1962 immediately before the completion of the first phase of I-696 in 1964.^[3] It was signed as a business spur of I-696 as a way to circumvent the elements it had that rendered it substandard to the Interstate Highway System.

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	# NB	# SB	Destinations	Notes
Wayne	Detroit	1A	1A	Jefferson Avenue - Joe Louis Arena	Joe Louis Parking Center & Riverfront Apartments
			1B	Larned Street - Cobo Center	Left exit (southbound only)
			1C	Howard Street - Cobo Roof	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			2A	Bagley Avenue	Left exit (southbound only)
		2B	2B	I-75 (Fisher Freeway) - Toledo, Flint
			2C	Grand River Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		3	3	Forest Avenue, Warren Avenue
		4A	4A	I-94 east (Ford Freeway) – Port Huron	Left exit from southbound
		4B	4B	I-94 west (Ford Freeway) – Chicago	Left exit from northbound
		4C	4C	Milwaukee Avenue, West Grand Boulevard
			5A	Pallister Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		5B		Clairmount Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			5C	Chicago Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		6A		Hamilton Avenue, Chicago Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		6B		Webb Avenue	Northbound exit only
			6C	Elmhurst Avenue	Southbound exit only
		7A		Glendale Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Highland Park	7B	7B	M-8 east (Davison Freeway)
		7C		M-8 west (Davison Avenue)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Detroit	8	8	Linwood Avenue
		9	9	Livernois Avenue
		10A	10A	Wyoming Avenue
		10B		Meyers Road, McNichols Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		12	12	7 Mile Road
		13A	13A	M-102 (8 Mile Road) / Greenfield Avenue
Oakland	Southfield	14A/B	14A	9 Mile Road - Northland Center
		14C		Southfield Road (north)
			14C	M-39 south (Southfield Freeway)
			14B	9 Mile Road	Southbound exit only
		15	15	Evergreen Road, 10 Mile Road
		16	16	Lahser Road
			17	I-696 east – Port Huron	Left exit (southbound only)
		18A		US-24 north (Telegraph Road)
		18B		US-24 south (Telegraph Road)
		18C		I-696 west – Lansing	Left exit (northbound only)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• M-10 Termini at Michigan Highway Ends
• M-10 Photo Tour at GribbleNation.net by Dan Garnell