Roads and freeways in metropolitan Detroit

Roads and Freeways in Metropolitan Detroit
Highway markers for I‑75 and M‑10
Map of Detroit Metro Area freeways
System information
Formed:	1805
Highway names
Interstates:	Interstate nn (I‑nn)
US Highways:	US Highway nn (US nn)
State:	M‑nn
System links
Michigan State Trunkline Highway System Interstate US State Byways

The roads and freeways in metropolitan Detroit comprise the main thoroughfares in the region. The freeways consist of an advanced network of interconnecting freeways which include Interstate highways. The Metro Detroit region's extensive toll-free freeway system, together with its status as a major port city, provide advantages to its location as a global business center. There are no toll roads in Michigan.

Detroiters may refer to freeways by the formal name more often where one has been designated rather than route number. Other freeways without formal names are known by the number such as I‑275 and M‑59. M‑53, while not officially designated may be locally referred to by its name "Van Dyke". Detroit area freeways are typically sunken below ground level to permit local traffic to pass over the freeway and for appearance.

Following a historic fire in 1805, Judge Augustus B. Woodward devised a plan similar to Pierre Charles L'Enfant's design for Washington, D.C.. Detroit's monumental avenues and traffic circles fan out in a baroque styled radial fashion from Grand Circus Park in the heart of the city's theater district, which facilitates traffic patterns along the city's tree-lined boulevards and . The 'Woodward plan' proposed a system of hexagonal street blocks, with the Grand Circus at its center. Wide avenues, alternatively 200 feet (61 m) and 120 feet (37 m), would emanate from large circular plazas like spokes from the hub of a wheel. As the city grew these would spread in all directions from the banks of the Detroit River. When Woodward presented his proposal, Detroit had fewer than 1,000 residents. Elements of the plan were implemented. Most prominent of these are the five main "spokes" of Woodward, Michigan, Gratiot, Grand River and Jefferson Avenues.