The highway follows the Michigan Baseline, a part of the land survey of the state, and the roadway is also called Base Line Road in places.

The eastern end of 8 Mile Road is in Grosse Pointe Woods, near I-94, with a short, discontinuous segment east of Mack Avenue.

As the long northern border of the city of Detroit, 8 Mile Road has carried major cultural significance; since the mid-20th century parts of the road has served as a physical and cultural dividing line between the wealthier, predominantly white northern suburbs of Detroit and the poorer, predominantly black city.

The racial patterns have changed somewhat as middle-class African Americans have also moved north of 8 Mile, but the socioeconomic divide between the city and suburbs remains.

On either side of 8 Mile Road, the area is filled with residential neighborhoods of the two cities with commercial businesses immediately adjacent to the highway.

About two miles (3.2 km) east of its starting point, M-102 intersects US 24 (Telegraph Road) at a cloverleaf interchange near Frisbee-Pembroke Park and Plum Hollow Country Club.

As the highway approaches M-1 (Woodward Avenue), there are a pair of service drives that split from the main roadway in each direction to provide access through the interchange with M-1.

[2][3] In 1939, the eastern terminus was moved as M-102 was extended along 8 Mile and Vernier Roads to end in Grosse Pointe Shores at M-29 (Jefferson Avenue).

[20][21] This extension to M-102 was reversed in October 1994 when M-5 was extended northwesterly along Grand River Avenue, the freeway and up the Haggerty Connector north of I-96 in Novi, replacing part of M-102 in the process.

The perception of 8 Mile as the chief dividing line between racial groups and classes persists, in part because the suburban counties of Oakland and Macomb remain, on the whole, significantly whiter and more prosperous than the city of Detroit.

[23] However, in recent years increasing numbers of whites have moved into Detroit, especially around the downtown area, and other neighborhoods in the region have become more ethnically diverse as well.

The system helped bring order to county boundaries, which had often been set in other states by geographic markers such as rivers, hills, and trees, and were therefore rather irregular.