dlhunter

Belleville Road is broken into 4 sections. Section 1: Belleville Bridge to I-94 overpass: this section is primarily homes off quieter cul de sacs and 1 open air shopping plaza. Section 2: I-94 overpass to Tyler Road: this section of Belleville Road is the primary shopping mecca for Belleville. Here you will find many fast food restaurants, several "sit down casual" restaurants, several banks, several gas stations, 2 drug stores, 1 tire store, a Walmart and a Meijers. This section of Belleville Rd is 5 lanes wide (1 center turn lane) with very few stop lights. Section 3: Tyler Rd to Ecorse Rd: again primarily residential, this section is 2 lanes wide (1 in each direction), it has a new fire station half way into the section. Section 4: Ecorse Rd to Michigan Avenue: this section of Belleville Rd is 4 lanes wide (2 in each direction), a notorious speed trap in both directions, and has primarily old warehouse type busineses with sparse housing. Belleville Road runs north and south, and ends at Michigan Avenue in Canton.

This used to be a wonderful neighborhood street, but they lowered the "credit" standards to get accepted to the park, and now everyone basically who qualifies for section 8 and welfare moved in. Homes are not kept up as they should and 1 house on this street is a drug house. A lot of "roaming teens" at all hours of the night, radios blaring without regard for neighbors. Thefts are higher now than they were 2 years ago when we first moved here. There is some gang activity in the neighborhood and damage done to vehicles parked longer than 1 day in this neighborhood. Recreation is across the street behind the clubhouse, where there is a swimming pool (open Memorial Day to Labor Day). it is not heated, therefore, unless it is scorching outside, the cold water is almost unbearable. Most of the homes on this street are double wide homes, with peaked roofs. There is only 1 home on the entire street that is from the late 1960's. Neighbors do not talk to neighbors, and the teens dig through your mailbox if it looks "interesting". Police have picked up patrols through this neighborhood since June of 2008.

Main Street through downtown Belleville, is nothing to "write home about". As of January 2009, 2 businesses have left the downtown area, and all that is left are 2 restaurants (Red Beans & Rice and The Red Apple), 1 credit union, 2 banks, 1 Florist, 1 muffler shop, several doctors offices, 1 dental office, 1 hardware store, 1 pharmacy, 1 tiny museum, several boutique stores and 1 gas station. I grew up in Belleville and Sumpter Township, and Belleville's Main Street used to be a nice place to walk around -- lots of little stores, including a dimestore. Now, those days are gone. The road itself extends from "Five Points" (junction of Huron River Drive, E Columbia Ave, South Street, Main Street, & W Columbia Street) to the Belleville Road Bridge, just past Liberty Street on the north end of town. This stretch of road is absolutely HORRIBLE on your tires and shocks -- more potholes than a dirt road in the springtime. It is highly recommended that if you are planning on going through downtown Belleville, you go a little further east to Liberty Street and take that through town, as it is a MUCH smoother road.

Telegraph Road runs north and south. Brownstown Township and the city of Taylor, enjoy the 50-mph traffic speeds and high traffic loads that run through the areas. Starting at roughly King Road and Telegraph, traveling northbound to Van Born Road (roughly 10 miles), this section of roadway hosts many establishments both old and new. You can find MOST fast food places on this section of road, as well as several fine dining establishments and 1 shopping mall. It is centrally located close to Detroit Metropolitan airport, and gives travelers a "straight shot" throughway to places further north like Troy and Southfield. Telegraph Rd is a divided road, that offers 4 lanes in each direction. This is one of those roads where you need to make a Michigan Left (go past the road, go to the turn around, come back to the road you wanted to turn left on, and actually make a right). There is one turn around section though, that is NO left turn on red, and that is the section near the shopping mall, by Eureka Road...you must wait for the light to turn green. I believe this is because at that particular light, I-75 is exiting onto Telegraph Rd Northbound, and there are a lot of accidents. Growing up, Telegraph (or Tgraph as we called it), was the place to hang out, flirt and cruise. It's not any different now.

Fort Street runs north and south on the eastern most edge of Southgate, MI. To it's credit, it boasts the only Sonic Drive In Restaurant in the downriver area -- if you are planning on going there, be prepared to wait! Over the years, the area has seen much improvement. Gone are old stores like Korvettes, and Joshua Door aka Wickes Furniture. Now This section of Fort Street enjoys the traffic and business to a Super Kmart (one of 2 in the southern downriver area) and a Meijers -- largest store in the Meijer chain.
This section of Fort Street is filled with old cars during the summer in what is called "Cruising the Fort" -- it's amazing how many cars are bumper to bumper on both sides (divided) of Fort Street. Excellent place to hang out.