Outer Drive is a bypass road which encircles both the eastern and western portions of the Detroit, Michigan region. It resembles a jagged horseshoe and was not originally intended to move traffic as much as it was to provide a pleasurable drive around the City of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and some of its suburbs. A

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

for the vast majority of its length, Outer Drive includes travel through beautiful subdivisions, school sites, and park areas. First proposed in 1918, it immediately won acceptance and eventually evolved into the thoroughfare which exists today. A 1929 article in ''Michigan Women'' magazine, predicted a "...great pleasure boulevard..." that would be "...like a necklace around Detroit...." However, in an article dated August 4, 2004, in the ''

Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly newspaper located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. The ''Metro Times'' was an official sponsor of the now-defunct De ...

'', Michigan author Curt Guyette described Outer Drive as "...one of the oddest city thoroughfares in the country." Outer Drive was once famous for the elm trees that lined the wandering roadway at one time, but in a circa-1983

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

report about Outer Drive, reporter Erik Smith of the local ABC affiliate, declared that "...now, it may be more famous for its potholes." While mostly within the Detroit city limits, Outer Drive also ventures into the cities of Allen Park, Dearborn,

Dearborn Heights Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Dearborn Heights is located about west of downtown Detroit. The city shares a small border with Detroit, and is considered a bedroom c ...

, Ecorse,

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

, and Melvindale. At its western starting point at Jefferson Avenue in Ecorse near the

Detroit River The Detroit River is an List of international river borders, international river in North America. The river, which forms part of the border between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ont ...

, the thoroughfare meanders northwesterly to Michigan Avenue, where it makes a northeast bend along the River Rouge; it then continues northeasterly with several 90-degree-angle turns until Outer Drive ends at Livernois Avenue. Outer Drive then resumes on Detroit's east side, over-taking State Fair Avenue, Conner Avenue, Alter Road, Chandler Park Drive, and Whittier Avenue, with its eastern terminus at Mack Avenue at the northern edge of the City of Grosse Pointe Park, but not actually entering that city. Outer Drive is notable for having several isolated divided portions. There are three such segments. The largest is the westernmost section, beginning at Jefferson Avenue in Ecorse and ending at Livernois Avenue in Detroit—this particular sector is . The middle section is between Dequindre Road (at East State Fair Avenue) and at East McNichols Road (between the Mount Olivet Cemetery and the Coleman A. Young International Airport); that section is entirely within Detroit. The easternmost section is between Conner Avenue (near Gratiot Avenue) and Mack Avenue; this portion is and likewise completely inside Detroit.

References

Metro Times Article about the history of Outer Drive
{{Metro Detroit Surface Streets, state=open Metro Detroit Streets in Michigan

See also

References