M-1 (Michigan highway): Difference between revisions

Detroit was incorporated in 1815,<ref name=MDOTtoday>{{cite magazine |author = Michigan Department of Transportation |date = Winter 2003 |url = http://www.michigan.gov/documents/MDOT_Woodward_Heart_and_Soul_170072_7.pdf |publisher = Michigan Department of Transportation |title = Woodward Avenue: A Road to the Heart and Soul of America |magazine = MDOT Today |pages = 8–9 |access-date = August 30, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120616224511/http://www.michigan.gov/documents/MDOT_Woodward_Heart_and_Soul_170072_7.pdf |archive-date = June 16, 2012 |archive-format = PDF |url-status = live }}</ref> and the initial roadway to connect Detroit north to Pontiac along the Saginaw Trail was started in 1817; this was a [[corduroy road]] built by laying down logs and filling in the gaps with clay or sand.<ref name=geddes>{{cite book |first = Norman |last = Bel Geddes |author-link = Norman Bel Geddes |year = 1940 |title = Magic Motorways |url = https://archive.org/stream/magicmotorways00geddrich#page/26/mode/2up |location = New York |publisher = [[Random House]] |page = 27 |oclc = 751992 |access-date = August 20, 2012 |via = [[Internet Archive]] }}</ref> The territorial legislature authorized a survey of the roadway to Pontiac on December 7, 1818, and the route was approved by Governor [[Lewis Cass]] on December 15, 1819,<ref name=barnett192-3>{{harvp|Barnett|2004|pp =192–193|ps=.}}</ref> the first to be done in the future state.<ref name=facts>{{cite web |author = Michigan Department of Transportation |url = http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11154-129683--,00.html |title = Road & Highway Facts |publisher = Michigan Department of Transportation |date = June 18, 2010 |access-date = September 27, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120208014906/http://michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11154-129683--,00.html |archive-date = February 8, 2012 |url-status = live }}</ref> The [[Michigan Legislature]] authorized the construction of a private [[plank road]] with [[toll road|tolls]] to connect Detroit with Pontiac in 1848. By the next year, {{convert|16|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} and {{convert|3|in|cm|adj=mid|-thick}} oak planks were laid along the road between the two communities. Tolls were {{convert|1|cent/mi|cent/km|spell=in}} for vehicles and {{convert|2|cent/mi|cent/km|spell=in}} for a herd of cattle. Tolls along some segments of Woodward Avenue remained in place as late as 1908.<ref name=gavrilovich2>{{harvp|Gavrilovich|McGraw|2000|pp= 236–238|ps=.}}</ref>

 

The first automobile in Detroit was driven by Charles Brady King along Woodward Avenue on March 3, 1896, a few weeks before Henry Ford drove his first car in the city.<ref name=llewelin>{{cite news |first = Phil |last = Llewellin |author-link = Philip Llewellin |title = In the US Motoring Centenary, Speed Freaks Are Heading for Michigan |work = [[The Independent]] |location = London |date = March 16, 1996 |page = 12 |issn = 0951-9467 |oclc = 15051443 |url = https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/in-the-us-motoring-centenary-speed-freaks-are-heading-for-michigan-1342265.html |access-date = September 21, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180713182612/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/in-the-us-motoring-centenary-speed-freaks-are-heading-for-michigan-1342265.html |archive-date = July 13, 2018 |url-status = live }}</ref> In 1909, the first mile (1.6&nbsp;km) of [[Road surface#Concrete|concrete roadway]] in the country was paved between 6&nbsp;and 7&nbsp;Mile roads at a cost of $14,000 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US-GDP|14000|1909|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP|name-list-style=amp}}).<ref name=barnett243-4>{{cite book |last = Barnett |first = LeRoy |year = 2004 |title = A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan |location = Allegan Forest, Michigan |publisher = Priscilla Press |pages = 243–244 |isbn = 1-886167-24-9 |oclc = 57425393 }}</ref><ref name=stein/>

 

===State Trunkline era===