M-10 (MICHIGAN HIGHWAY)

'M-10', also known as the 'John C. Lodge Freeway', and 'Northwestern Highway'. Its southernmost portion runs on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit, Michigan, and its southern terminus is at the intersection of Jefferson and Randolph Street; its 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.

Contents

John C. Lodge freeway portion

Northwestern Highway portion

Previous incarnations of M-10

First iteration

Second iteration

Exit list

External links

References

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.
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 long 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 the 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 (the others being the Davison Freeway and the Southfield Freeway) in the Detroit area universally referred to by name rather than route number.
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 replacment of freeway signs between Lahser Road in Southfield and Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.^[7]

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 views 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.

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.

First iteration

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.

Second iteration

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.

Exit list

County	Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Wayne	Detroit	1A	Jefferson Avenue - Joe Louis Arena	No northbound entrance
		1B	Larned Street - Cobo Center	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1C	Howard Street - Cobo Roof	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		2A	Bagley Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		2B	- Toledo, Flint
		2C	Grand River Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		3	Forest Avenue, Warren Avenue
		4	, Chicago	Signed as exits 4A (east) and 4B (west)
		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	No southbound exit
		6C	Elmhurst Avenue	Southbound exit only
		7A	Glendale Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Highland Park	7B
		7C		Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Detroit	8	Linwood Avenue
		9	Livernois Avenue
		10A	Wyoming Avenue
		10B	Meyers Road, McNichols Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		12	7 Mile Road
		13A
Oakland	Southfield	14A	9 Mile Road - Northland Center
		14N	Southfield Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		14S		Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		14B	9 Mile Road	Southbound exit only
		15	Evergreen Road, 10 Mile Road
		16	Lahser Road
		17		Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		18		Signed as exits 18A (north) and 18B (south)
		18C		Northbound exit and southbound entrance

External links

★ M-10 Termini at Michigan Highway Ends

★ M-10 Photo Tour at GribbleNation.net by Dan Garnell

References

1. Michigan Highways: Highways 10 through 19 Bessert, Christopher J.
2. History of the Lodge Freeway Bridget Baulch
3. Michigan Highways: Master List 1918-Present Bessert, Christopher J.
4. Michigan Highways: Business Connections 96 through 496 Bessert, Christopher J.
5. Final List of Nationally and Exceptionally Significant Features of the Federal Interstate Highway System
6. Dodge the Lodge II
7. Massive Lodge Project Proceeds