Michigan’s Wild Ride: The State’s Most Dangerous Intersections

Metro Detroit is once again taking the lead when it comes to Michigan's most dangerous intersections. The Michigan Auto Law firm just dropped its yearly list of the state's riskiest intersections and 17 of them are right here in Southeast Michigan.

According to the study, which relies on car crash data, the intersection of 11 Mile Road and Interstate 696 at Van Dyke Avenue in the Warren and Centerline area earned the title of the most dangerous intersection in 2022. The law firm reported 207 crashes and 41 injuries at this location during that year. Interestingly, this same intersection held the top spot in the ranking in 2021 as well.

In the study's findings, the intersection of Schoolcraft Road and Telegraph Road in Redford Township, along with the roundabout at Martin Parkway and N. Pontiac Trail in Commerce Township, shared the second spot for the highest number of crashes, both recording 126 incidents.

Out of these two, the Redford intersection reported 30 injuries, whereas the Commerce Township roundabout had 13.

Surprisingly, only one Detroit intersection made it onto the list, securing the 20th position. It was the intersection of 7 Mile Road at I-75, which witnessed a total of 71 crashes and 22 reported injuries throughout the last year.

"Knowing the intersections that have the most car accidents allows prudent drivers to decide whether it is better and safer to avoid these roads and take alternative routes," the law firm said on its website. "While a car accident does not always mean someone was injured, it does increase substantially the likelihood of an injury occurring."

Additional dangerous intersections listed are the roundabout at 18 1/2 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue in Sterling Heights, which witnessed 118 crashes and 10 injuries. In Southfield, the intersection of Telegraph Road and 12 Mile Road reported 110 crashes and 30 injuries. Meanwhile, the junction at 10 Mile Road and I-94 in St. Clair Shores had 103 crashes, resulting in two fatalities and 28 injuries.

Check out the full list of the state’s 20 most dangerous intersections here.

There are some strange and peculiar roads around the world which can often make driving an... interesting experience. While many roads are bland, Michigan has some unique roads. And many of those roads have some interesting history.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, the oldest constructed roads discovered to date are in former Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq. These stone-paved streets date back to about 4000 B.C. in the Mesopotamia cities of Ur and Babylon.

Here in Amercia, the State Highway Department was created in 1905. In the early 1900s, lcoal leaders, including Horatio S. "Good Roads" Earle and Frank F. Rogers, saw a pressing need to get Michigan out of the mud.

Over time, they accomplished the first mile of concrete highway built, first painted centerline, first roadside park, and the first four-way red/yellow/green electric traffic light built on a solid foundation for a sustainable transportation system in Michigan. The demand for paved roads rose with the use of wheeled vehicles.

When it comes to Michigan’s roads and highways, there are many facts. Most Michiganders would find some of these quite surprising. The Michigan Department of Transportation has compiled a list of facts about the roads and highways in Michigan. With facts about Michigan’s first road map, first four lane road, and others. But which facts do some Michiganders not know about?

Here are 8 Michigan road facts you probably didn’t know about.

Currently, Michigan has one of the nation's shortest signed interstates. The shortest freeway in Michigan is only 1.1 miles long. Though not signed, New York has a  0.70 miles freeway, which is even smaller than Michigan's smallest.

The three-span US-12 camelback bridge in Mottville is Michigan's longest remaining bridge of this type. Constructed in 1922, these bridges are found primarily in Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

The towers on the Mackinac Bridge or “Mighty Mac” (552 feet high) are almost as tall as the Washington Monument (555 feet high). The Mackinac Bridge is currently the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world.

The first Michigan road map, with only three roads on it, was published by the United States Congress in 1826. As a matter of fact, the first surveyed road in Michigan was Pontiac Road (now called M-1 or Woodward Avenue) connecting Detroit and Pontiac in 1819.

M-185 on Mackinac Island is the only state highway in the nation where motor vehicles are banned. Motorized vehicles have been prohibited on Mackinac Island since 1896 because the horses were disturbed by the noisy engines of some of the island's first cars. Furthermore, carriage drivers formed an association, convincing islanders to ban automobiles.

The longest highway in Michigan is I-75, which runs 395 miles from the Ohio border to the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie. I-75 also passes through six different states. At its north end, it starts on the Canada/U.S. border at the top of Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie. Then it heads south to Naples in Florida, where it bends east and runs across to Miami.

MDOT says that there is enough pavement on Michigan roadways to build a one-lane road from the Earth to the moon. Michigan has a total of 120,256 miles of paved roadway. This includes 9,669 route miles of state trunkline, 89,444 route miles of county roads, and 21,198 route miles of city and village streets. However, according to NASA, the Moon us an average of 238,855 miles away from Earth.

Eight Michigan highways began as Native American trails, US-2 (from Sault Ste. Marie to Green Bay); I-75 (from Detroit to Saginaw), I-94 (from Detroit to St. Joseph; I-96 (from Detroit to Grand Rapids), I-94 (from Detroit to Port Huron), US-41 (from L'Anse to Marquette), and US-12 (from Ypsilanti to Chicago). Michigan's three largest tribes are the Ojibwe (also called Chippewa), the Odawa (also called Ottowa) and the Potawatomi (also called the Bode'wadmi). Michigan also federally recognizes these tribes and others in the state.