Metro Detroit
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Image:DetroitCMSA.jpg Metro Detroit is the U.S. metropolitan area consisting of nine counties including the cities of Detroit, Flint (although it is often disputed whether Flint is included due to its distance from the city of Detroit), Ann Arbor, Pontiac, and other outlying cities, villages, and townships in the U.S. state of Michigan. The Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint Combined Metropolitan Statistical Area has about 5,516,124 inhabitants and is the eighth largest metropolitan area in the United States (Note: this does not include population figures for Windsor, Ontario or other nearby Canadian cities, although these may be informally included in Metro Detroit by some sources. If Windsor is included, the population would climb to about 6,200,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area.)
Though this metropolitan area officially encompasses most of Southeast Michigan, residents of outlying communities (such as Flint, Port Huron and Monroe) may not consider where they live to be part of the "Detroit area." Michiganders have traditionally defined "Metro Detroit" as the three counties containing or bordering the city of Detroit--Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb. This grouping is also commonly called "the tri-county area."
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Visitor's Guide
Ethnic groups
Metro Detroit's ethnic communities are largely the descendants of mainly French origin and other small communities (Poles, Irish, Italians and Greeks) who made their way to the city during its early 20th-century industrial boom. Metro Detroit has the largest concentration of Belgians outside of Belgium.
Detroit is also home to a large Chaldean population and to the country's largest concentration of Arab Americans, mainly Lebanese, but also Yemenis, Iraqis, and Palestinians. Recently, the area has witnessed the growth of Asian American and Hispanic communities. The southwest side of the city contains a large Chicano community, while significant populations of Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Filipino ancestry are found in Oakland, Washtenaw, and western Wayne Counties.
Metro Detroit has a higher percentage of blacks than any other northern U.S. metropolitan area — about one-fourth of the metropolitan population. Altogether, more than a million African-Americans live in the area. About three-fourths of them live within the Detroit city limits. Other communities with large black populations include Inkster, Highland Park, Ecorse, River Rouge, Southfield, Pontiac and Oak Park. The Michigan Chronicle, the state's largest black-owned newspaper, is based in Detroit. The Michigan Citizen is another paper which targets African American readers.
Counties
Anchor cities
Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada, lies across the Detroit River, slightly south of Detroit. Because of its close proximity, it (and Essex County) is usually included in the population of the Metro Detroit region for international lists. With a total population of about 5,900,000, the Detroit-Windsor metropolitan area is the 46th largest metropolitan area in the world. If the metropolitan area is extended farther (to create a geographic similarity) to include Chatham-Kent and Lambton County which lie across from areas included in the CMSA, the population increases to about 6,200,000 and would jump to the 43rd largest.
Area codes
Metro Detroit is served by six telephone area codes. The 313 area code, which used to encompass all of Southeast Michigan, has been narrowed to the city of Detroit and a few close suburbs. 313 has assumed special status as many Detroiters say that they are from "The 3-1-3" or the "three-one-third" to assert that they are "truly" from Detroit. The 248 area code serves most of Oakland County, along with the newer 947, which largely covers cellular phones. All of Macomb County is largely served by 586. St. Clair counties are covered by 810, while Washtenaw, Monroe, and western Wayne counties are in the 734 area.
Transportation
Major airports
- Detroit City Airport (DET) (Detroit) - General aviation only
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) (Romulus) - Major commercial airport, hub for Northwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines
- Flint-Bishop International Airport(FNT) (Flint) - Commercial airport
- Oakland County International Airport (PTK) (Waterford Township) - Charter passenger facility
- Selfridge Air National Guard Base (Mount Clemens) - Military airbase
- Willow Run Airport (YIP) (Ypsilanti) - Cargo, general aviation, charter passenger traffic
- Windsor Airport (YQG) (Canada) - Commercial airport
Major highways
The Metro Detroit area is criss-crossed by several major interstate highways and freeways.
- I-75 (Chrysler and Fisher Freeways) is the region's main north-south route, serving Flint, Pontiac, Troy, and Detroit, before continuing south (as the Fisher Freeway) to serve many of the communities along the shore of Lake Erie.
- I-94 (Ford Freeway) runs east-west through Detroit and serves Ann Arbor to the west (where it continues to Chicago) and Port Huron to the northeast. The stretch of the current I-94 freeway from Ypsilanti to Detroit was one of the first American limited-access freeways, originally built to link the factories at Willow Run and Dearborn during World War II and was then known as the Detroit Industrial Freeway.
- I-96 runs northwest-southeast through Livingston County and (as the Jeffries Freeway) has its eastern terminus in downtown Detroit.
- I-275 runs north-south from I-75 in the south to the junction of I-96 and I-696 in the north, providing a bypass through the western suburbs of Detroit.
- I-696 (Walter Reuther Freeway) runs east-west from the junction of I-96 and I-275, providing a route through the northern suburbs of Detroit. Taken together, I-275 and I-696 form a semi-circle around Detroit.
- I-375 is a short spur route in downtown Detroit, an extension of the Chrysler Freeway.
- I-475 runs north-south through downtown Flint for several miles before rejoining I-75.
- I-69, although a north-south route for most of its length, runs east-west across St. Clair, Lapeer, and Genesee counties, serving Flint, Lapeer, and Port Huron.
- Highway 401 Windsor-Toronto-Montreal Highway
- M-10 (The Lodge Freeway) runs largely parallel to I-75 from Southfield to downtown, and connects with I-75 via Jefferson Avenue.
- M-14 runs east-west from I-275 in Livonia to Ann Arbor.
- M-39 (The Southfield Freeway) runs north-south from Southfield to Allen Park via I-94. North of 10 Mile, the freeway ends and continues as Southfield Road into Birmingham.
- M-59 (Veterans Memorial Freeway from Utica to Pontiac), continues east as Hall Road to Clinton Township and west as various surface roads to I-96 near Howell
- M-8 (Davison Freeway), the first modern limited-access urban freeway in America, opened in 1944.
Traditionally, Detroiters referred to their freeways by name rather than route number. Today, the Davison, Lodge, and Southfield Freeways are almost always referred to by name rather than route number. True Detroiters precede each freeway name with the word 'the' as in The Lodge, The Southfield, and The Davison. This was also once true for the Chrysler, Fisher, and Ford Freeways (and to a lesser extent the Jeffries and Reuther Freeways) before the Department of Transportation mandated deemphasization of the use of proper names on guide signs for Interstates. Other freeways are referred to only by number (I-275, M-59, I-69 and I-475); their names, if any, were never in common everyday usage.
Other major roads
- 8 Mile Road, known by many due to the film 8 Mile, forms the dividing line between Detroit and the suburbs of Macomb and Oakland Counties. It is also known as Baseline Road outside of Detroit, because it coincides with the baseline used in surveying Michigan; that baseline is also the boundary for a number of Michigan counties as well as the boundary for Illinois and Wisconsin. Designated as M-102 for much of its length in Wayne County.
- Gratiot Avenue (M-3) is a major road that runs from Port Huron to Downtown Detroit.
- Jefferson Avenue is a scenic highway that runs parallel to the shore of the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. It is also the principal thoroughfare for the Grosse Pointes, where it is called Lake Shore Drive. Another important dividing line between Detroit and the City of Grosse Pointe Park is Alter Road, where portions of some intersecting streets have been reconfigured or walled-off in order to thwart vehicular and pedestrian movement from Detroit into Grosse Pointe Park.
- Michigan Avenue/US 12 runs from downtown Detroit through the western suburbs toward Ypsilanti, passes south of Ann Arbor, and eventually reaches Chicago, Illinois.
- Woodward Avenue (M-1) is considered the Detroit area's main thoroughfare. It is the dividing line between the East Side and the West Side. Woodward stretches from downtown Pontiac to the Detroit River near Hart Plaza. In Downtown Detroit, the Fox Theatre and Detroit Institute of Arts are located on Woodward as well as the Detroit Zoo just outside of the city. The Woodward Dream Cruise, a classic car cruise from Pontiac to Ferndale is held in August and is the largest single day classic car cruise in America.
- Telegraph Road (US 24) is a major north-south road extending from Toledo through Monroe, Wayne, and Oakland Counties to Pontiac. It has gained notoriety in a song (Telegraph Road) by the group Dire Straits.
Mile roads
Surface street navigation in Metro Detroit is commonly anchored by "mile roads," major surface streets that are spaced at one-mile intervals and increment upward as you travel away from the city center. Within the city of Detroit, the mile roads are ring roads; once past 8 Mile Road, the mile roads run east-west. Mile roads have at least two names, the numeric name (ex. 15 Mile Road) and a local name (ex. Maple Road). See Mile Road System (Detroit) for a definitive list.
Shopping malls and other major marketplaces
Metro Detroit has numerous shopping malls:
- Briarwood - Ann Arbor
- Birchwood - Port Huron
- Devonshire Mall - Windsor. 175 stores and services and over 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) in size.
- Eastland Center - Harper Woods.
- Fairlane Town Center - Dearborn just off of the Southfield Freeway.
- Gibraltar Trade Center - Largest indoor flea market in the United States.
- Great Lakes Crossing - Metro Detroit's largest mall in terms of stores (200). Located in Auburn Hills off of I-75.
- Lakeside Mall - On M-59 in Sterling Heights. With about 180 stores, it is the largest mall in Metro Detroit by area.
- Livonia Mall - At Middlebelt Road and 7 Mile Road.
- Northland Mall - At Northwestern Highway in Southfield, this mall, built in 1952, is said to be the first suburban shopping mall built in the United States. About 140 stores.
- Macomb Mall - Roseville. About 100 stores.
- Oakland Mall - In Troy off I-75, near the 14 Mile exit.
- The Somerset Collection - A luxury shopping center in Troy, approximately two miles east of I-75, straddling both sides of Big Beaver Road (16 Mile). Considered by many to be the region's (if not the entire state's) most upscale mall.
- Southland Mall - Taylor
- Summit Place Mall - In Waterford
- Tel Twelve Mall - In Southfield at the intersection of Telegraph and Twelve Mile Roads.
- Twelve Oaks Mall - Novi
- Universal Mall - Warren
- Westland Mall - Westland
- Wonderland Mall - Livonia
Colleges, universities, and trade schools
- Ave Maria College, Ypsilanti
- Cleary University, Ann Arbor and Howell
- College for Creative Studies, Detroit
- Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor
- Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills
- Davenport University, multiple Metro Detroit locations
- Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti
- Lawrence Technological University, Southfield
- Madonna University, Livonia
- Marygrove College, Detroit
- Oakland University, Rochester
- Rochester College, Rochester Hills
- Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, Southfield
- Sacared Heart Major Seminary, Detroit
- SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake
- University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn
- University of Windsor, Windsor (Canada)
- Walsh College, Troy
- Wayne State University, Detroit
