Alter Road
| Length | 3.22 mi (5.18 km) |
|---|---|
| South end | Riverside Drive – border of Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park |
| North end | Outer Drive / Chandler Park Drive in Detroit |
Coordinates: 42°23′18.9″N 82°56′54.2″W / 42.388583°N 82.948389°W
Alter Road is a north-south thoroughfare of just over three miles length on the east side of the city of Detroit, Michigan.
Although Alter Road itself is completely within the Detroit city limits, nevertheless it is a symbolic dividing line between the predominantly African-American City of Detroit and the predominantly Caucasian City of Grosse Pointe Park.
Like 8 Mile Road, another well-known thoroughfare of political, ethnic and economic demarcation in metropolitan Detroit, Alter Road has long been considered something of a "Berlin Wall" to separate communities. In fact, quite literally, there are places at which concrete barriers have actually been erected so as to reduce interaction between the two cities. A prime example would be the intersection of Alter and Goethe, just south of Mack Avenue, at which—right where the City of Grosse Pointe Park's corporate limit commences—that municipality has closed off Goethe to thwart both vehicular and pedestrian movement. Another example—although less physically imposing—would be the closing off of St. Paul Street (known as "Brooks" on the Detroit side of the border) to vehicles at the alley separating Alter Road with Wayburn Avenue. And along nearby Mack Avenue—another boundary between the two municipalities—the City of Grosse Pointe Park has likewise made some of its intersecting north-south side streets inaccessible to vehicles, so as to reduce the potential for criminal activity, with the intersection of Mack and Wayburn Avenues in Grosse Pointe Park constituting a prominent example.
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Wikipedia