Alter Road

Alter Road is the symbolic dividing line between the city of Detroit and the suburb Grosse Pointe. The division is extreme, both racially and financially. It can be witnessed physically through the contrasting character of houses, upkeep of landscape, condition of roads, and sounds of the street. Originally, there were no constructed, physical barriers preventing residents from commingling or entering shopping and restaurant areas, yet psychological and socially constituted divisions kept the communities segregated/apart. Since the 1980s, physical barriers have been erected by Grosse Pointe’s city planning department to further isolate the suburb and protect it from Detroit. Of the twelve streets that cross Alter Road, connecting Detroit to Grosse Pointe, four have been physically blocked off, three are without direct access into Detroit, two are one way streets, two run adjacent to the front and rear of the main police station, and the last remaining street is now approved to be closed. A continuing physical and psychological segregation at the Alter Road border has been quietly but efficiently implemented. The following photographs document these border barriers.