Eight Mile before the Woodward Overpass Trilevel

[LarryC39]

Looking for photos of the Eight Mile - Woodward intersection BEFORE the overpass was built. Seems like photos post-grade separation are everywhere but I can hardly find a photo of the "before" scene.

[mtburb]

There's one on one of the first pages of the Detroit Almanac, taken just before the time construction began.

[Jimaz]

From DTE Aerial Photos:

Attachment 25714
1949

Attachment 25715
1952

[LarryC39]

Yes, something street level like a more HQ version of the Detroit Almanac is what I'm seeking.

[townonenorth]

Yes, something street level like a more HQ version of the Detroit Almanac is what I'm seeking.

Outside of travelling back in time, I'd say the choices are pretty limited. Have you checked with the Ferndale Historical Society? Anything close by that the Manning Brothers may have photographed?

[shovelhead]

Have you tried MDOT?

[DetroitBoy]

I found this but cant tell exactly what it is showing being built at 8 and woodward

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteri...ile-road-1954/

this site that talks about the detroit super highways which interestingly included trains in the center of these highways:

http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8737.0

Do you know where this Sunset Blvd they mention in the first post is located?


i just looked at the pics in the second link. There is a pic showing what looks like Woodward at Royal Oak Twp. Could the a road view of the ariel shots of Woodward you have in an earlier post?

[animatedmartian]

I found this but cant tell exactly what it is showing being built at 8 and woodward

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteri...ile-road-1954/

this site that talks about the detroit super highways which interestingly included trains in the center of these highways:

http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8737.0

Do you know where this Sunset Blvd they mention in the first post is located?

Sunset Blvd was proposed to start at 8 Mile and Wyoming and run roughly parallel to Northwestern Highway. Here's a few fragments of the route.

http://goo.gl/maps/4RKq4

http://goo.gl/maps/3hy7P

I think that photo in the first link is on 8 Mile looking west towards Woodward. None of the buildings that line the street in the picture exist anymore, but the tree line in the background is still mostly the same.

http://goo.gl/maps/2URAe

[RaumVogel]

Thanks,Detroitboy,the article on aaroads was facinating. The first one...um...fascinating site!

[Dexlin]

Yeah, that thread was great. I really like the photo showing Woodward going toward Long Lake up in Bloomfield Hills:

[DetroitBoy]

Sunset Blvd was proposed to start at 8 Mile and Wyoming and run roughly parallel to Northwestern Highway. Here's a few fragments of the route.

http://goo.gl/maps/4RKq4

http://goo.gl/maps/3hy7P

I think that photo in the first link is on 8 Mile looking west towards Woodward. None of the buildings that line the street in the picture exist anymore, but the tree line in the background is still mostly the same.

http://goo.gl/maps/2URAe

Didnt those inter urban train lines run N and S up Woodward and not E and W along 8 mile? That would make this a pic looking North on Woodward in RO Twp. What is not clear is where it is in RO twp and if it is actually at the 8 mile intersection. It must have been a real adventure to jump on the inter urban and go to downtown Detroit. Wouldn't it be great to be able to do that again?

[Dexlin]

Didnt those inter urban train lines run N and S up Woodward and not E and W along 8 mile? That would make this a pic looking North on Woodward in RO Twp. What is not clear is where it is in RO twp and if it is actually at the 8 mile intersection. It must have been a real adventure to jump on the inter urban and go to downtown Detroit. Wouldn't it be great to be able to do that again?

Given the age of that picture, traffic lights would have only been at major intersections, so it has to be either 8 Mile or 9 Mile. I'm guessing it's 8 Mile. But, there is no way of knowing unless someone can make out that structure on the northeast corner.

[animatedmartian]

Didnt those inter urban train lines run N and S up Woodward and not E and W along 8 mile? That would make this a pic looking North on Woodward in RO Twp. What is not clear is where it is in RO twp and if it is actually at the 8 mile intersection. It must have been a real adventure to jump on the inter urban and go to downtown Detroit. Wouldn't it be great to be able to do that again?

You're not talking about this picture are you?

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteri...ile-road-1954/

The workers are setting up the molds for the curbs on the side of what will eventually become the new pathway of the road.


The other picture in Royal Oak Township that you're referring to is on Woodward likely around Woodward Heights street intersection. My guess is based on there seeming to be a slight curve of Woodward in the old photo and the curve only exists in what is currently Pleasant Ridge [[which would have been Royal Oak Township at the time).

[Dexlin]

Only one of those pictures have the streetcar lines in them, and that's the firest one he posted to the thread.

[Scottathew]

Only one of those pictures have the streetcar lines in them, and that's the firest one he posted to the thread.

Odd, it identified it as a "cloverleaf", but that certainly is not what was built. Were the plans originally different?

[knwb]

Yeah, that thread was great. I really like the photo showing Woodward going toward Long Lake up in Bloomfield Hills:

I like that series of photos too, but it's mislabelled - that photo, and the subsequent photos in the series, are looking South from the Woodward/Long Lake intersection [[Not only does Woodward travel uphill on the North side of Long Lake, but in the third of the series, at the far right in the distance, you can see the Barbour estate, now St. Elizabeth Briarbank, which is on the West side of Woodward).

[DetroitBoy]

You're not talking about this picture are you?

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteri...ile-road-1954/

The workers are setting up the molds for the curbs on the side of what will eventually become the new pathway of the road.


The other picture in Royal Oak Township that you're referring to is on Woodward likely around Woodward Heights street intersection. My guess is based on there seeming to be a slight curve of Woodward in the old photo and the curve only exists in what is currently Pleasant Ridge [[which would have been Royal Oak Township at the time).

I have been staring at this picture some more and doesnt it look like this is some type of lane they are constructing? Could it be the approach to what would become the westbound 8 mile underpass at Woodward while the existing lanes on the right become the surface road alongside of it and the right turn lane to northbound Woodward?

When you stare closely at the pic on the right there is a stop light and at the intersection and there appears to be streetcar tracks there and another set just past what looks like it could have been a patch of land or island for both N and S bound traffic at Woodward. There is also a crain on the left in the distance and what looks like blurry steel uprights which would support the cement columns to be constructed to support the overpass. Could this possibly be right?

It is odd as was mentioned it is labeled a cloverleaf.

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteri...ile-road-1954/

[MikeM]

Eight Mile at Hilton, looking west.

[MikeM]

BTW, love those smudge pots!

[DetroitBoy]

BTW, love those smudge pots!

what did they do with those? Let them burn at night so you could see the edge of the road?

[Jimaz]

what did they do with those? Let them burn at night so you could see the edge of the road?

Yes. It's what they used instead of today's electric lights.

As kids we always thought they were bombs because they looked like the stereotypical bombs shown in cartoons.

We also had the Time Bomb game by Milton Bradley. It was a safe version of Russian Roulette. As I recall the explosion was just a loud clicking sound.

[MikeM]

Here's the building with the round rood on the left side:



1952

[Jimaz]

Here's the building with the round rood on the left side:



1949

Isn't that the 1952 version? Or did I screw up my dates?

[MikeM]

You're right, '52.

[DetroitBoy]

You're right, '52.

Do you know when they stopped having the trains up Woodward and removed the tracks we see in these pictures? Did they take ot out when they built the superhighway overpass at 8 and Woodward?