M-102 (Michigan highway)

M-102
8 Mile Road
M-102 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length	20.804 mi[1] (33.481 km)
Existed	c. 1928[2][3]–present
Major junctions
West end	M-5 at Livonia
Major intersections	US 24 at Southfield M-39 / M-10 at Southfield I-75 / M-1 at Detroit M-53 / M-97 at Warren M-3 at Eastpointe
East end	I-94 at Harper Woods
Location
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Counties	Wayne, Oakland, Macomb
Highway system
Michigan State Trunkline Highway System Interstate US State Byways
← US 102 → M-103

M-102 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that runs along the northern boundary of Detroit following 8 Mile Road. The highway follows the Michigan Baseline, a part of the land survey of the state, and the roadway is also called Base Line Road in places. As a county road or city street, 8 Mile Road extends both east and west of the M-102 designation, which leaves 8 Mile on the eastern end to follow Vernier Road. The western terminus of M-102 is at the junction of 8 Mile Road and M-5 (Grand River Avenue) and the opposite end is at Vernier Road and Interstate 94 (I-94). The 8 Mile Road name extends west to Pontiac Trail near South Lyon with a discontinuous segment located west of US Highway 23 (US 23). The eastern end of 8 Mile Road is in Grosse Pointe Woods, near I-94, with a short, discontinuous segment east of Mack Avenue.

The highway was first designated in the late 1920s, connecting US 10 (Woodward Avenue, now M-1) with US 25 (Gratiot Avenue, now M-3). Extensions to the highway designation moved the termini in the 1930s and 1940s east to M-29 (Jefferson Avenue) and US 16 (Grand River Avenue, now M-5). A change in the 1960s added a section of north–south roadway to the eastern end of M-102; that change was reversed within about a year. A western extension along Grand River Avenue in 1977 was reversed in 1994, and M-102 has remained the same since.

As the long northern border of the city of Detroit, 8 Mile Road has carried major cultural significance; since the mid-20th century parts of the road has served as a physical and cultural dividing line between the wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs of Detroit and the poorer, predominantly black city. The racial patterns have changed somewhat as middle-class African Americans have also moved north of 8 Mile, but the socioeconomic divide between the city and suburbs remains.