Whats the point of the island on Mound Rd?

I've looked at a few pictures from the early 1900's it shows, & Mound Rd. was just as narrow as any other side street, Whats was the original intent of an island, [[im thinking decoration but to me it seems pretty huge). Leading me to unrelated questions as in;

1. What is the background history behind the Krainz Woods neighborhood?
2. Why is Mt. Elliot the only 1 street that runs all the way through the City of Detroit [[North & South)?

• And don't you think Mound Rd. would be a great way for a rail line connecting Detroit to its suburbs? [[Because I can do without making a Michigan U-turn in the summer time, having to look over the high uncut grass to cross.

The Davison Freeway was supposed to continue Northeast and shoot up Mound Rd, connecting to I-696 at the current interchange at Mound.

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Originally Posted by Sehv313

I've looked at a few pictures from the early 1900's it shows, & Mound Rd. was just as narrow as any other side street, Whats was the original intent of an island, [[im thinking decoration but to me it seems pretty huge). Leading me to unrelated questions as in;

1. What is the background history behind the Krainz Woods neighborhood?
2. Why is Mt. Elliot the only 1 street that runs all the way through the City of Detroit [[North & South)?

• And don't you think Mound Rd. would be a great way for a rail line connecting Detroit to its suburbs? [[Because I can do without making a Michigan U-turn in the summer time, having to look over the high uncut grass to cross.

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Mt. Elliot is not the only North-South Street. Van Dyke, Woodward. Livernois and Telegraph all run North-South through the city.

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Originally Posted by PDXwonderboy

The Davison Freeway was supposed to continue Northeast and shoot up Mound Rd, connecting to I-696 at the current interchange at Mound.

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That's 2/3 of what was planned. The Davison was originally planned to connect to I-94 via McNichols/Conner corridor [[which explains why the Conner/I-94 interchange is so odd), and a the Mound Rd. Fwy [[never built) was supposed to connect from the M-53 Van Dyke Fwy down to about McNichols [[a 3 way interchange). But none of that was ever built... and even the state right of way along Mound Rd. north of 14 Mile [[west side) has been sold for commercial use.

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Originally Posted by p69rrh51

Mt. Elliot is not the only North-South Street. Van Dyke, Woodward. Livernois and Telegraph all run North-South through the city.

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From the Detroit river to 8 mile Mt. Elliot is the only street that runs through the entire city limits, Woodward stops thru h.p. and at campus martius then continues, Telegraph & Livernois dont run through all of city limits to the river & Vandyke does not continue south of Jefferson, Making Mt. Elliot the only street you can ride from 8 mile road south to the river front without taking a single detour

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Originally Posted by Sehv313

From the Detroit river to 8 mile Mt. Elliot is the only street that runs through the entire city limits, Woodward stops thru h.p. and at campus martius then continues, Telegraph & Livernois dont run through all of city limits to the river & Vandyke does not continue south of Jefferson, Making Mt. Elliot the only street you can ride from 8 mile road south to the river front without taking a single detour

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Not quite sure I agree...

Woodward starts at the river [[Jefferson) and goes around Campus Martius [[but is still contiguous) and goes all the way up to 8-Mile and beyond. It never stops.

Also, Mt. Elliot is not contiguous. At the rail road tracks [[where Mound begins) it breaks up. If you're going north you have to take Harold to get back to NB Mt. Elliot. If you're going SB you have to take Mt. Elliot Court to Caniff to Mound, then you can continue SB.


But to the original point, that's why the 696\Mound interchange is so huge and wasteful, it was supposed to connect with another freeway.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2q8c26x.png

A professor in college told me that part of MDOT's long term plan was to expand the M59 freeway all the way to 94 eventually. So you'd essentially have a 3 lane service drive on each side of a sunken highway. Seems plausible with the size of the median going to Hall road, but I don't think I've ever seen this in a long term plan. Anyone else ever hear that anywhere?

Whats the point of the island on Mound Rd?

It gives the Warren cop under 696 overpass somewhere to hide.

Many years ago to my understanding Mound Rd was considered to be made into an expressway, hence the size of land accumulated.

As to Mt. Eliot being the only N-S Rd., silly. You're splitting some very fine hairs.
Some of the other roads mentioned did go south of Jefferson at one time, such as Woodward.
But you're nit picking about 2-3 blocks, when the roadway is miles and miles long across the city? Whatever floats your boat. :)

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Originally Posted by mikeg19

A professor in college told me that part of MDOT's long term plan was to expand the M59 freeway all the way to 94 eventually. So you'd essentially have a 3 lane service drive on each side of a sunken highway. Seems plausible with the size of the median going to Hall road, but I don't think I've ever seen this in a long term plan. Anyone else ever hear that anywhere?

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Yup, that crossed my ears also.

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Originally Posted by 48091

Not quite sure I agree...

Woodward starts at the river [[Jefferson) and goes around Campus Martius [[but is still contiguous) and goes all the way up to 8-Mile and beyond. It never stops.

Also, Mt. Elliot is not contiguous. At the rail road tracks [[where Mound begins) it breaks up. If you're going north you have to take Harold to get back to NB Mt. Elliot. If you're going SB you have to take Mt. Elliot Court to Caniff to Mound, then you can continue SB.


But to the original point, that's why the 696\Mound interchange is so huge and wasteful, it was supposed to connect with another freeway.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2q8c26x.png

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Broadway Auto Parts is pretty solid, if you lose any car parts during your Mount Elliot trans-Detroit journey. Just got me a sideview mirror there.

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Originally Posted by Sehv313

From the Detroit river to 8 mile Mt. Elliot is the only street that runs through the entire city limits, Woodward stops thru h.p. and at campus martius then continues, Telegraph & Livernois dont run through all of city limits to the river & Vandyke does not continue south of Jefferson, Making Mt. Elliot the only street you can ride from 8 mile road south to the river front without taking a single detour

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If you are being picky Mt. Elliot does not go through from the river without being interrupted. There is the break where the street splits at Conant and takes a 30 degree ish turn. Using your Woodward analogy the split would be in the same league as the zig-zag downtown. Livernois runs from Fort Wayne to the burbs from the closest point to the river possible in that area. Same for Van Dyke the street starts at the southern most point without driving in a building in that part of the city nearest to the river. As for Telegraph its geographic location would not take the street anywhere near the river, but then none of the other surface streets will take you to Lake Erie if you are looking for water so yes they all qualify!

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Originally Posted by mikeg19

A professor in college told me that part of MDOT's long term plan was to expand the M59 freeway all the way to 94 eventually. So you'd essentially have a 3 lane service drive on each side of a sunken highway. Seems plausible with the size of the median going to Hall road, but I don't think I've ever seen this in a long term plan. Anyone else ever hear that anywhere?

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Yes, that was the original plan, but the City of Utica under the leadership of Mayor Fred Beck during the years 1961 through 1986 successfully defeated that plan. To continue the sunken M-59 highway eastward from the Utica Rd. overpass would have required the acquisition of a 400 foot wide right-of-way that would have wiped out all of the downtown businesses along the south side of Auburn Rd. as well as those on the south side of Hall Rd, east of Van Dyke. Not so co-incidentally, the Mayor's insurance business was located in a building he owned on the south side of Hall Rd. east of Van Dyke that would have been cut in half by the ROW acquisition.

The red lines superimposed on this aerial view of M-59 indicate the approximate location of the 400 ft. wide ROW that would have been needed to continue the M-59 freeway to the east through the City of Utica.

Attachment 17619

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Originally Posted by poobert

Broadway Auto Parts is pretty solid, if you lose any car parts during your Mount Elliot trans-Detroit journey. Just got me a sideview mirror there.

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I drive by there quite a lot. When NB I-75 is slow my alternate is Gratiot -> Mt. Elliot -> Mound -> 48091

What would be good ideas for all of the space on Mound Rd. ,I think a rail line would be great or adding a couple businessess along the road would be nice. It's a shame that It's noting to do on such a wide commercial strip like that.

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Originally Posted by Sehv313

What would be good ideas for all of the space on Mound Rd. ,I think a rail line would be great or adding a couple businessess along the road would be nice. It's a shame that It's noting to do on such a wide commercial strip like that.

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Well, the issue is in Detroit, Mound Road has very little commercial businesses. In fact, you don't really see any commercial businesses until about 12 Mile Road in Warren, and then it drops off again pretty quicky as you get into Sterling Heights.

However, one thing that might support a rail line is all the automotive and other manufacturing in the cooridor.

I would much rather favor major cooridors like Gratiot, Woodward, Michigan, Grand River, and Fort for rail lines.

Mt. Elliot\Mound just doesn't really hit any major destinations. Perhaps it was modified a little bit it could end on Belle Isle and connect with a Jefferson\Fort line that could take you to Downtown\RenCen\JLA\Cobo\Canada.

Perhaps it might be a very long-term possibility, but right now we need to get light rail adoption on the more obvious choices, first and foremost being Woodward. M-DOT's website claims M1 rail construction will start in 2013.

We don't really need contigous streets to make rail lines. For example, I most certainly would support the M1 Rail line taking deviating from M1 to go into downtown Royal Oak. It just makes sense.

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Originally Posted by mikefmich

Many years ago to my understanding Mound Rd was considered to be made into an expressway, hence the size of land accumulated.

As to Mt. Eliot being the only N-S Rd., silly. You're splitting some very fine hairs.
Some of the other roads mentioned did go south of Jefferson at one time, such as Woodward.
But you're nit picking about 2-3 blocks, when the roadway is miles and miles long across the city? Whatever floats your boat. :)

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A
A case could be made for Beaconsfield too!

I'm quite certain the areas of Mound in Detroit are about the last place Detroit is going to focus on. Where would a rail line down Mound take you? To the prison?

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Originally Posted by 48091

Well, the issue is in Detroit, Mound Road has very little commercial businesses. In fact, you don't really see any commercial businesses until about 12 Mile Road in Warren, and then it drops off again pretty quicky as you get into Sterling Heights.

However, one thing that might support a rail line is all the automotive and other manufacturing in the cooridor.

I would much rather favor major cooridors like Gratiot, Woodward, Michigan, Grand River, and Fort for rail lines.

Mt. Elliot\Mound just doesn't really hit any major destinations. Perhaps it was modified a little bit it could end on Belle Isle and connect with a Jefferson\Fort line that could take you to Downtown\RenCen\JLA\Cobo\Canada.

Perhaps it might be a very long-term possibility, but right now we need to get light rail adoption on the more obvious choices, first and foremost being Woodward. M-DOT's website claims M1 rail construction will start in 2013.

We don't really need contigous streets to make rail lines. For example, I most certainly would support the M1 Rail line taking deviating from M1 to go into downtown Royal Oak. It just makes sense.

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There already is a rail line running up the Mound Road corridor. It runs behind the businesses on the east side of Mound, and it serves all of the industrial useage that is located in that long strip between Mound and Van Dyke.

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Originally Posted by erikd

There already is a rail line running up the Mound Road corridor. It runs behind the businesses on the east side of Mound, and it serves all of the industrial useage that is located in that long strip between Mound and Van Dyke.

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At one time, that rail line [[Michigan Central) went all the way to Mackinac. Passenger service to Bay City [[then cut back to Saginaw) ran on that line till the mid-sixties in the form of a Budd RDC-3. The line has now been torn up north of Utica.

Here is a pic of the RDC near Oxford.

Attachment 17640

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Originally Posted by Sehv313

From the Detroit river to 8 mile Mt. Elliot is the only street that runs through the entire city limits, Woodward stops thru h.p. and at campus martius then continues, Telegraph & Livernois dont run through all of city limits to the river & Vandyke does not continue south of Jefferson, Making Mt. Elliot the only street you can ride from 8 mile road south to the river front without taking a single detour

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What do you mean Woodward stops through Highland Park? It goes right through Highland Park and it doesn't stop at Campus Martius either it goes around it on both sides. Woodward goes from Jefferson to 8 Mile in the city of Detroit except for the part where it goes through Highland Park. It's most certainly a street that goes through the entire city. Telegraph is the border on the westside for the most part and doesn't travel through much of the city, Livernois goes from 8 Mile to Jefferson, what's it suppose to do after Jefferson? The river is there as is Fort Wayne. The streets mentioned do go through the entire city.

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Originally Posted by 48091

Well, the issue is in Detroit, Mound Road has very little commercial businesses. In fact, you don't really see any commercial businesses until about 12 Mile Road in Warren, and then it drops off again pretty quicky as you get into Sterling Heights.

However, one thing that might support a rail line is all the automotive and other manufacturing in the cooridor.

I would much rather favor major cooridors like Gratiot, Woodward, Michigan, Grand River, and Fort for rail lines.

Mt. Elliot\Mound just doesn't really hit any major destinations. Perhaps it was modified a little bit it could end on Belle Isle and connect with a Jefferson\Fort line that could take you to Downtown\RenCen\JLA\Cobo\Canada.

Perhaps it might be a very long-term possibility, but right now we need to get light rail adoption on the more obvious choices, first and foremost being Woodward. M-DOT's website claims M1 rail construction will start in 2013.

We don't really need contigous streets to make rail lines. For example, I most certainly would support the M1 Rail line taking deviating from M1 to go into downtown Royal Oak. It just makes sense.

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You don't really need a street to run a rail line at all. Here in Chicago the L runs over the tops of alley's and over the top of streets as well as two subways downtown which run under streets. So I don't think there needs to be a street to run a rail line.

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Originally Posted by Brian1979

You don't really need a street to run a rail line at all. Here in Chicago the L runs over the tops of alley's and over the top of streets as well as two subways downtown which run under streets. So I don't think there needs to be a street to run a rail line.

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I agree with you.