Special Features Page

Please pardon the disarray while the page is being constructed.

Special Feature of the Day: The "Features" of the 2005 MDOT State map. In honesty, this compelation is not intended to mock MDOT or disparage the work that goes into the maps. Nevertheless, the errors should be brought to light. The errors spotted below are from a variety of sources. Many thanks - in advance - for what they have done.

Detroit Inset Section 3:

1: In Sterling Heights, between Plumbrook and Utica and east of Schoenherr, those dirt roads do not exist - only a 7/11 and a dry cleaner exists if I recall correctly.
2: Hayes Road is paved between 14 Mile and Moravian - and has been for years; I used to commute on that road.
3: Kelley Road is paved north of Metro Parkway - though does not connect to Metro Parkway itself, only the frontage roads.
4: The interchange with I-94 and Gratiot (M-3) at exit 231 is not technically a freeway, only ramps.
5: Merrill Road in Sterling Heights is paved 6: Just east of Merrill Road, Utica Road crosses OVER M-59 . . . not sure what that fantom stub/underpass is extending from Utica Road northeasterly.
6: In Sterling Heights/Clinton Township, 19 Mile Road is a through street, it does not divert onto Canal Road.
7: 22 Mile Road in Macomb Township is paved - and has been for years
8: Garfield Road is in the process of being connected; will confirm over this weekend when I return to Detroit for a weekend; should be paved
9: Heydenreich south of 22 Mile is paved now.
10: Greenfield Street in Clinton Township is paved.
11: Butler Road in Auburn Hills is a through street (not two stubs) and is paved along most - if not all of its length.
12: In Shelby Township and Sterling Heights: The interchange with M-59 and Dequindre Road is not done right. Three things: West Utica Road meets Dequindre NORTH of M-59, not connected to South Blvd; South Blvd continues all the way to become the service drive of M-59 at Mound Road, not ending at Dequindre; The interchange to/from EB M-59 does not directly connect to Dequindre, it connects to South Blvd and you have to drive to Dequindre or from it.
13: Bingham Farms should not be the same color as Bloomfield.
14: 10 Mile Road is shown as a stub in Oak Park, it should be connected with the ramp-like lines to the exit with Coolidge because it technically is an exit for both.
15: Unconfirmed, but will find out soon: M-102 is still labeled as Baseline Road in Hazel Park; if I remember correctly, this was changed about eight years ago with the creation of the "Eight Mile Road Commission" which was to beautify the street and promote "good" business growth.
16: Gardenia Ave (in Madison Heights) has a separate bridge than the overpass connecting the NB service drive to NB Stephenson Highway.
17: Woodward Heights Road crosses OVER I-75 in Hazel Park.
18: Couzens Street crosses OVER I-696 in Madison Heights; furthermore, Couzens Street is not if labeled, just some street at exit 19.
19: Sherwood (in Warren) crosses OVER I-696.
20: Exit 67 off I-75 is just wrong - Rochester Road meets Stephenson Highway south of I-75 then continues as a divided highway north through the interchange past Big Beaver for 1/3 mile.
21: Rochester Hills/Shelby Township - Washington Road/26 Mile Road is paved.
22: M-53/Van Dyke/18 Mile/18 1/2 Mile Interchange not shown - in fact the map has two stubs that barely connect.
23: Schoenherr is a divided highway for a half mile extending into Shelby Township.

Detroit Inset Section 4:

1: Harrison Township not shown, even though every other township in the area is - Harrison has been chartered as well for many years.
2: Selfridge ANG does not extend across I-94.
3: Mount Clemens has annexed some of the land between Clinton Township and I-94.
4: Eastern part of New Baltimore is colored green and should be orange.
5: Card Road is recently paved between 21 and 23 Mile Roads - the final section may still be in progress
6: L'anse Creuse Blvd in Harrison Township looks like two separate street names.

Detroit Inset Section 5:

1: Ramps are not shown to/from I-94 EB at Bus I-94 on the west side of Ann Arbor.
2: Exit 162 on I-94 is drawn properly. There should be only one ramp from WB I-94 to Jackson Road (Old US-12). The other thing is that Fletcher Road appears to merge into I-94 WB. This is actually the entrance ramp to WB I-94, and of course, it is paved.
3: In Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, ramps on the east side of the US-23/M-17 interchange show as being on the east side of Carpenter and Hogback Roads. This is not the case. (Mr. Rowland)

Detroit Inset Section 6:

1: The interchange with Middlebelt Road and I-94 (Exit 199) is very messy. Middlebelt does not even connect with itself or the ramps.
2: The access road to Metro Airport from Eureka is actually an interchange, and the ramps are not shown.
3: Eureka Road is a divided highway from just east of Wayne Road to just east of the old (and realigned - which is not shown) Vining Road.
4: Twice on the map "Middlebelt" is spelled with a space. According to the city of Livonia, various school districts and MDOT signing along I-94, it should have no space. To my understanding, however, the space is still slightly disputed. (The spacing is off as well in Livonia.)
5: McClumpha is shown as gravel between Ann Arbor Rd and Ann Arbor Trail. It IS gravel immediately north of Ann Arbor Rd and immediately south of Ann Arbor Trail, but is paved in between. (Mr. Anderson)
6: To make matters worse, the designation for a gravel road on the map for gravel roads in Metro Detroit (McClumpha, Ridge, Six Mile, etc.) - alterating solid/white - does not match the city map legend for improved (gravel, etc.) city roads - solid white with gray lines. (Mr. Anderson)
7: Newburgh Lake is misspelled as Newburg Lake (compare to Newburgh Rd). (Mr. Anderson)
8: Newburgh Lake is shown as two streams as an outline of green, rather than blue for a lake. (Mr. Anderson)
9: The gap for Hines Drive where it passes under (no intersection) Middlebelt is misaligned. (Mr. Anderson)
10: West Chicago does NOT go through all the way (there is a gap) between Middlebelt and Merriman in Livonia. It also continues westward from Merriman to Middlebelt, but for whatever reason MDOT has never chosen to show that portion of West Chicago. (Mr. Anderson)
11: It shows Hines Park in Plymouth as Riverside Park. While that IS an [very] old designation, dating back to the 1920's when it was a Plymouth City Park, that's an official designation anymore, nor has it been for many years. A portion of it is officially the "Plymouth Riverside Recreation Area" of Hines Park. (Mr. Anderson)
12: Similarly, the northern end of Hines Park (including, but not limited to the Cass Benton Recreation Area) is shown as Cass Benton Park. (Mr. Anderson)
13: Also in Hines Park (which ISN'T on the map, by the way), is "Phoenix Park". That doesn't even rate a mention in the Wayne County web site, except that Phoenix Lake was a part of the original county lands on the Middle Rouge. (Mr. Anderson)
14: The lower end of Hines Park is shown as "Middle Rouge Parkway". Another old name, which may have lasted into the 1970s. (Mr. Anderson)
15: Middlebelt Road is misaligned with the rest of the map. (hence, points #1, 4, and 9.)
16: I-275 is shown as two ramps through the I-94 interchange. This technically isn't correct since the roads never separate a great distance. (Cite: I-94 at Ecorse Road where the two sides separate.)
17: In Canton, the I-275 NB exit to US-12/Michigan Avenue is shown as exiting onto Lotz Rd. In reality, it is a standard exit with a dedicated ramp. (Mr. Rowland)

Detroit Inset Section 7:

1: Spacing issues off Southfield Freeway to all destinations. (ok, picky, I know)
2: Interchange on Michigan Ave (US-12) with Greenfield not shown.
3: Ford Road too thick east of Oakwood Blvd.
4: Ramp from EB I-94 to WB US-12 does not really exist.
5: Wyoming Ave is not the connection from WB I-94 to WB M-153, it is Addison St.
6: "Left" exit and entrances from EB I-94 and to WB I-94 with West Grand Blvd are not shown properly - looks like a "crash-hazard" ramp: a left exit from both sides of I-94 which meet in the middle UNDER West Grand Blvd - I'll bet there have been some crashes there. ;-)
7: The Lodge Freeway (M-10) does not directly exit to Fort Street (M-85).
8: Unsigned M-5 (Grand River Ave) does not extend down Cass Street any more - at least officially it does not; this map shows it extending to meet Michigan Ave.
9: Chandler Park (on the east side) technically extends all the way to I-94's ROW.
10: University of Detroit should be the University of Detroit Mercy.
11: McNichols Road is not a through street along the north side of City Airport (Coleman A. Young Airport - it will always be City Airport to me); the road was closed years ago to accomodate the extended runway.
12: M-8/Davison Avenue is a divided highway between the ramps from I-96 and Livernois Ave.
13: The partial interchange between M-8 and M-1/Woodward Avenue is not shown. There should be a ramp from EB Davison/M-8 and to WB Davison/M-8.
14: Plymouth Road is shown as being divided through River Rouge Park in Detroit and should not be. (Mr. Rowland)

Detroit Inset Section 8:

Note: #1-8 from Inset Section 7 carry over onto section 8.
1: Interchange with I-94/M-39 does not show ramps to and from Pelham Road. Furthermore, I-94 is shown going through the interchange as a street not a freeway.
2: Main Street in Windsor, Canada should not be red.
3: Ramps from I-75 to Dix-Toledo Highway (Exit 40) pass UNDER I-75, not over.

Flint Inset:

1: Exit with Bristol Road and I-69 is more than slightly displaced.
2: Railroad runs parallel to I-69, not through the heart of the airport.
3: Interchange with I-75 and US-23 not properly drawn according to MDOT normalcies ;-).
4: Hill Road interchange (with US-23) not shown.
5: Van Sylke Road does not cross I-75, and while it resumes beyond I-75, it does not dead end.
6: Interchange with I-75 and I-475 peculiarly drawn; what are the red lines?.
7: Interchange with Hill Road not properly drawn or complete, for that matter.
8: Jennings Road should go all the way to Pasadena (its the road that is just east of I-75 and misteriously dead ends in Mt. Morris Township.
9: Town of Beecher not shown anywhere. (The town is located be where parts of Northern Flint are indicated.)
10: "U.A.W." floating a little to randomly; with that and "FRWY" between exits 10 and 11 being so far apart and displaced, the name of the highway is not well understood.
11: I could pick on all the city "dashed-outlines" which are not consistent through the entire map.

Kalamzoo Inset:

1: M-331 not shown on inset or on larger map. (this does not surprise me since it is unsigned, but I did notice it)
2: (bottom left) There is an anomale should not cross I-94 at US-131.
3: Portage/Kilgore interchange not properly drawn.
4: Cork Road does not pass under the I-94/Sprinkle Road interchange, it meets Sprinkle Road just north of the overpass.
5: Town of Nazareth nowhere to be found, though at least the name is there.

Muskegon Inset:

1: The text for Norton Shores is not uniform.
2: Business US-31 has not been realigned on the map to be along Lakeshore Drive.
3: County route B-72 (I believe) is not shown from the junction of US-31 and Sherman Ave (heading east along Sherman).
4: The ramp from I-96 WB to US-31 NB appears to have an intersection with Airline Highway, which would be incorrect.

From the Large Map section 1:

From the Large Map section 2:

1: The east-west portion of BUS US-41 in Marquette is still there. At least the north-south portion was removed.
2: M-553's path in the city of Marquette is not entirely accurate, and should be redrawn. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp).
3: There are black-lined designated county roads drawn around the vicinity of Escanaba and nearby Gladstone, yet the route numbers do not appear. Are these designated highways, or should the lines turn to gray? (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp.)

From the Large Map section 3:

1: M-80 is shown extending as a stub across the railroad (west of I-75). It should end at I-75.
2: BS I-75 in Sault Ste. Marie is not drawn properly. It also appears they have added road that extends north from the "turn" in BS I-75.

From the Large Map section 4:

1: Near Leland, the dashed line marking the ferry path between Leland and North Manitou Island is labelled "Passenger", which is useless, since the "square-F" symbol already denotes that. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
2: There is no red line for M-168 in Elberta. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
3: There is no red line for US-31 between Manistee and Parkdale. (Carryover from previous editions.) At least they got the removal of the former M-110 correct. (Mr. Camp)
4: The new BUS US-31 (spur) in Ludington is not yet there. There is, however, a black-line road extending from the southern terminus of this Business Route down to near the north end of BUS US-31 near Pentwater. This route (if it really is a county designated highway) is not labeled (it was not such a highway in earlier editions of the MDOT map).

From the Large Map section 5:

1: There is a stub extending down old US-131 (southward) from Manton.
2: M-18 in Gladwin County is STILL black. Come on, now.
3: Old State Road (the road that intersects M-65 between Hale and M-55) is not paved between the Iosco/Ogemaw county line and the first shown intersection (Sage Lake Road). In fact, if I remember correctly, it remains gravel even beyond Sage Lake Road for a few miles.
4: Boyne City - The northern terminus of C-73 is drawn sloppily, as is the way M-75 runs into town from the south. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
5: There is no labelling of BUS M-32 through Hillman. (Mr. Camp)
6: Gaylord - The red line for the north-south section of BL I-75 is not placed correctly. There is a gray line running parallel to it, and that is where it should be. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
7: The section of F-97 between F-38 north to M-32 (near Johannesburg) has been removed. (Don't know if this is correct - it has been there in previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
8: Northernmost end of the US-131 freeway is drawn sloppily; doesn't show the curve at the north end of BUS US-131 to freeway terminus. (Mr. Camp)
9: Big Rapids - BUS US-131 is shown curving near it's southern end, where it really makes a 90-degree turn at the "T" intersection with Old US-131 instead. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
10: M-55 is shown extending into Cadillac. M-55 has been rerouted onto the US-131 freeway and duplexed with M-115 for a short while. (Mr. Cole)

From the Large Map section 7:

1: M-239 not shown on map, though route number is shown.
2: Extending north from Benton Harbor: stub of a phantom state route ? No, just a misprint.
3: Napier Road is not a state highway between M-139 and I-94; it currently only is as a temporary connection to US-31. (Carryover from prior editions.)
4: The Niles Bypass should have exits at US-12 and M-51.
5: A slight stub remains shown from what used to be M-205; the route was decomissioned in 2002.
6: Indiana does not have a state route extending from M-217 to the turnpike, though they should.
7: Along phantom route mentioned above in #6 should be an exit with the Indiana Toll Road.
8: In Muskegon, sloppy work at the southern terminus of M-120 where it meets BUS US-31. (Mr. Camp)
9: There have been no adjustments made to reflect the relocation of BUS US-31 along Shoreline Drive in Muskegon. (Mr. Camp)
10: Near Ada, the double red-line boulevard marking for M-21 is shown going all the way west to it's terminus with M-37/44, which is not correct. It is also shown going east all the way through Ada, which is not correct either. (Mr. Camp)
11: Holland should be a black circle (not a red one), now that the business routes have been removed. (Mr. Camp)
12: M-6 - No interchange box at it's western terminus with I-196. There should be gray lines shown for the roads that meet M-6, and not just "floating" interchange boxes. (Mr. Camp)
13: Bradley should be a red circle (not a black one), now that M-179 is designated. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
14: Niles - BUS US-31 is gone, but it is unclear whether M-140 was extended from it's longtime southern terminus at Old US-31(/33) down to Main Street (BUS US-12) in downtown Niles. (Carryover from previous editions.) (Mr. Camp)
15: M-331, though unsigned, is not shown in Kalamazoo.

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