| Jefferson Avenue (detroit) |
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Information AboutJefferson Avenue (detroit) |
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Jefferson is one of five major avenues (along with Woodward , Michigan , Grand River , and Gratiot ) planned by judge Augustus Woodward in 1805 that extend from downtown Detroit in differing directions. Jefferson was planned to extend due east of downtown, parallel to the Detroit River. Later additions to the road have extended it west of downtown as well, where it continues to travel near the waterfront through the Downriver area. This road passes through the city of Detroit, the Grosse Pointe Communities , St. Clair Shores , and Harrison Township , among others. It also serves as the backbone of the rich neighborhoods of the Grosse Pointe communities, skirting the eastern portion of the city of Detroit. Jefferson is also a corridor to the bridges to Grosse Ile (1 free, 1 toll). Although the road is continuous with Jefferson Avenue to the north and south, the name changes in Wyandotte to Biddle Avenue. Similarly, in Grosse Pointe Farms and Grosse Pointe Shores , the name changes to '''Lake Shore Drive'''. Jefferson Avenue is notable as being a true indicator of the racially and socioeconomically segregated nature of communities in the Detroit area. Starting in Detriot and driving north to Selfridge Air National Guard Base provides a sense of the most extreme living conditions that flank the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. The most obvious transition is at Alter Road, which seperates Northeast Detroit from Grosse Pointe Park - from one of the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Michigan to the multi-million dollar mansions on Lake Shore in the Grosse Pointes. Many of the neighborhoods along Jefferson Avenue in Detroit between Alter and Woodward are extremely poor, with Indian Village being an exception. There is one block gap in Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, between Clark and Scotten Sreets. In downtown Detroit, the southern end of M-10 is routed on Jefferson to the corner of Randolph St./ M-3 . From the corner of Randolph to the southern end of I-375 between Beaubien and St. Antoine streets, Jefferson is the extremely short, 0.015 mile-long, unsigned Business Spur Interstate 375 . Another gap occurs at the former Selfridge Air Force Base, now a golf course and the Selfridge Air National Guard Base . Jefferson Avenue ends at 23 Mile Rd., near the boundary between Chesterfield Township and New Baltimore . On the south end, Jefferson begins at the boundary between Wayne County and Monroe County in Brownstown Township, Michigan at the junction of U.S. Turnpike Rd. and S. Huron River Drive, a few miles south of Gibraltar . |
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