I was driving home from Canton a few days ago, after a trip to the bank. As I drove south on Canton Center Road, I wondered whether to head east to Haggerty Road via eastbound Michigan Ave., or drop farther south on Belleville Road, and head east on Van Born Road.
There are many things that I like about the Belleville area after living here for 34 years, but one I’m reminded of at least weekly is traffic – more specifically, the absence of it.
An evening drive headed south on Sumpter Road from town is like a trip back in time – farmland, minimal traffic, clear view – the absence of roadway tension, unlike I-96 or I-696 or Orchard Lake Road, is refreshing. Even the I-94/I-275 freeways in the area are a reasonably pleasant trip.
That day on the way home from Canton, I decided to go via Van Born Road, and I was reminded again how great a road it is – from Belleville Road eastward, the road is smooth, there are no stop signs or traffic lights until you reach Haggerty Road, and it’s a pleasant, unimpeded, safe drive at the posted speed of 50 miles per hour – clean and green. In fact, at times you don’t see any traffic.
It got me thinking about roads in the area - those which I like, and those of which I’m not fond. I remembered that Norm DeBuck of the New Lawn Sod Farm has in the past spoken highly of Rawsonville Road, but I’m often uncomfortable driving it. It’s a relatively narrow road for the traffic volume and there are few turning lanes. It needs improvements.
My daughter Kelly was involved in a bad accident on Rawsonville Road over a decade ago. She was pulling out from the parking lot at Pinter’s after working there on the afternoon of Father’s Day, in June.
After a southbound vehicle passed her by as she waited, she turned left and was struck, hard, by a northbound vehicle. She had forgotten to look south before pulling into traffic on Rawsonville, and the oncoming car was shielded by the vehicle headed south. She was surprisingly OK – thank you, Ford engineers – and we celebrated Father’s Day together later that same day. But it reinforced my attitude toward traffic safety on Rawsonville Road.
And don’t get me started on Haggerty Road – those haut relief ripples in the road every few hundred yards on Haggerty were rudely jarring. As you drove north or south, you began to anticipate the collision with the road surface, and inevitably wondered about the damage to your tires, your wheels and your undercarriage – yours as well as the vehicle’s.
I use the past tense referring to these ripples on Haggerty because, blessedly, Wayne County ground down the ripples a month or two ago, and the ride is much better. Would that it could have been done much sooner – it seemed like a simple operation, with high benefit at relatively low cost – a good value.
When I lived in town, I often traveled Huron River Driver Drive toward Rawsonville, well before the subdivisions were built. It is a pleasant, winding road, with the lake on the right – kinda peaceful, pastoral.
But I almost got killed on Huron River Drive, one Sunday morning. Norm DeBuck and I were running together, toward traffic, alongside each other on the road’s shoulder. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, but a vehicle behind us decided to pass a slower-moving vehicle, and as the vehicle passed, it came within inches of me, running on the shoulder of Huron River Drive. It’s still amazing to me that the driver couldn’t wait a moment or two to get past me before attempting the passing maneuver. It’s a jungle out there.
But I go on. What are your favorite, and least favorite roads in the area, and why?
Write in and we’ll publish the most interesting answers.
Jerry LaVaute is a special writer for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at glavaute@gmail.com or call 1-734-740-0062.
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