Livernois Avenue

Within Detroit

Livernois Avenue starts out in southwest Detroit across Jefferson Avenue from the site of Fort Wayne, carrying only southbound traffic, with northbound traffic carried on Dragoon Street one block east. Both roads converge together a block north of Vernor Highway, from this point northward, Livernois carries traffic in both directions. At Alaska Street (between Tireman Street and Joy Road), it turns from north-northwestward to due north. Livernois Avenue then becomes a boulevard at Grand River Avenue and remains one as far north as M-102 (8 Mile Road) at the Detroit city limits, with only a brief interruption for a couple blocks at M-8 (Davison Street). It is along this stretch that Livernois passes the western edge of the University of Detroit Mercy's main campus and intersects the eastern end of West Outer Drive.

Within Oakland County

Livernois Avenue becomes less prominent as it crosses into Ferndale, but is still lined with commercial businesses. Livernois then becomes a divided highway again at Marshall Street (between 8 and 9 Mile) and continues to be one until its first physical interruption at 9 Mile Road for a supermarket parking lot. Livernois then starts up again, still a divided roadway and as a residential street, one block north and continues until it is interrupted again just south of the Ferndale city limits.

Livernois Avenue then picks up as an undivided commercial road again at M-1 (Woodward Avenue) in Pleasant Ridge as Main Street and with only northbound traffic-it does not become a two-way street until the westbound Interstate 696 (I-696) service drive, two blocks north. It retains this name through the cities of Royal Oak and Clawson before becoming Livernois again upon completely entering Troy at Maple (15 Mile) Road. Livernois then passes under I-75 without an interchange and then crosses Big Beaver Road a couple blocks north.

Livernois Avenue continues northward into Rochester Hills, where it crosses over M-59, again without an interchange. Several miles to the north at Tienken Road, Livernois becomes a residential dirt road before ultimately ending at Orion Road in southern Oakland Township.

Name

Livernois Avenue was named after Francis Livernois, a French farmer who resided in the area during the 18th century.

History

Livernois Avenue was the site of the 1975 Livernois-Fenkell riot when the white owner of a bar located on the road near Fenkell Street in Detroit shot and killed a black man as he was attempting a carjacking.

In 2006, the portion between Grove Street (south of McNichols Road) and 7 Mile Road became the first stretch of Livernois Avenue in Detroit to be converted into a divided boulevard. The boulevard has since been extended both north to 8 Mile Road in 2007 and south to Grand River Avenue in the late 2000s.