Detroit's Highway Projects
How current and future highway projects will change Detroit
There are a few major highway projects either underway or in the planning stages that could greatly impact the layout of Detroit, for better or worse. Let's take a look and see how the projects are progressing and what purpose they serve.
I-375 Removal
Long a topic of discussion, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is committed to removing I-375 that cuts the mile between Downtown/Greektown and Lafayette Park. The stated goal would be to better connect a large population area like Lafayette Park and the downtown area, while also improving access to the Riverfront, improving the intersection at Jefferson, and improving access to Eastern Market. Additionally, it would decrease the need for future maintenance on bridges and ramps serving the current highway, ease the movement of I-75 traffic around the corner of Brush Park, and open up new land for development.
According to the MDOT website 2022 was the “early design” phase, but I recall townhall meetings being held at nearby stakeholder areas back in 2018, and early discussions were being held as early as 2013. I believe the project hit a funding roadblock during Whitmer’s first term and was picked back up a few years later with help from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), kicking off a new process of public outreach and comments. Early on in the project, MDOT proposed either rebuilding the highway as is, improving just the Jefferson connection, or surfacing the highway at various points moving up towards Gratiot. Ultimately, they took the project even further and surfaced the entire duration starting at an exit off of I-75.
MDOT has continued to engage with the community on this project and has dubbed the project as a “Reconnecting Communities” project after the USDOT “Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program” that supplied a chunk of the funding. The USDOT grant is for projects that reconnect communities by “…removing, retrofitting, or mitigating highways…that create barriers to community connectivity…”. The mile of I-375 is just one of many urban highways that were routed through prominently African American or minority neighborhoods, often disrupting stable communities and causing thousands of people and businesses to relocate. USDOT and MDOT hope to repair some of the damage done, but not everyone is convinced that the plan is true to the mission.
MDOT does seem to be listening, as they’ve reduced the number of lanes in the design quite substantially which would make the new boulevard more pedestrian friendly and keep speeds down. I do think the project will get done and I think it will be a positive for the area, but MDOT does need to have more fleshed-out answers as to what will happen to the excess land created and who will get an opportunity to own and redevelop it. While the plan they have now is not perfect, I do think it’s important that MDOT balances the desires of both those that want easy commute access and those who want to urban grid more reconnected, as this project will likely be a bellwether as to whether other highway removals in Michigan can be accomplished and you have to do a bit to appease all parties to show that these projects are feasible.
I-75 Cap
Floated as sort of a vaporware project over the past decade, it seems that capping of I-75 through Downtown may actually be getting some consideration. The Downtown Detroit Partnership, with $2 million in funding from USDOT, is spearheading a study to determine the feasibility of the project. If everything were to go correctly, it seems that there could be some serious movement towards the end of this year and even construction starting in 2025.
The idea behind the plan is similar to the I-375 project, to reconnect areas of Downtown Detroit that have been separated by highways. When thinking about reconnecting these areas, the idea of removal is often considered the gold standard of bringing back the urban fabric, but sometimes the reality of the situation is that the highway serves an important function and cannot realistically be removed, that’s where capping comes in. While I’d love to see I-75 removed through Downtown and rerouted (a la this plan from Paul Jones III), capping seems to be more realistic at this time because I-75 is a major Federal Interstate, unlike I-375.
Highway capping isn’t completely new to the Detroit area, we can look to I-696 for an example of how it can be done and what it would look like. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, there was concern about the new I-696 cutting through predominately Orthodox Jewish communities and disrupting their ability to get to Temple. To help alleviate this, several larger bridges were built over the highway and topped with pedestrian plazas near Greenfield and Coolidge. There are also more extreme examples of highway capping in Boston, where over 3 miles of highway was capped through downtown in a projected dubbed “The Big Dig”. Capping can be challenging though, as the caps require similar or greater maintenance that bridges do, and if the caps are large enough, they can require certain types of cargo to be rerouted for safety concerns or can require extensive ventilation systems.
With growth continuing in Downtown and Midtown, I think capping does make a lot of sense, depending how it is executed. Having I-75 cut right through major attractions is very inconvenient and makes walking in that area less comfortable due to the noise and narrow sidewalks. The study area, which spans from 3rd Avenue on the west to Brush Street on the east, would help connect those coming and going from Little Ceasars Areana, Comerica, Ford Field, and the Theaters, but also better connect the Brush Park neighborhood to Downtown and better serve the future University of Michigan Center of Innovation. There would also be a potential to include buildings on the caps to increase the street streetwall. However, the caps will never reach their full potential if Olympia doesn’t do anything with the land they currently hold and are supposedly developing, so we’ll see.
I-94 Modernization
The other major highway project going on in Detroit right now has been underway for the past few years and involves and redesign of I-94 through Detroit from Conner Avenue to the I-96 interchange. Major changes to the highway include widening it to four lanes in each direction, rebuilding bridges and interchanges, and improving connectivity of adjacent roads and service drives. While widening certainly doesn’t fit the theme of the other highway projects I’ve discussed, there are some great parts about this project that will increase connectivity and work to rebuild a bit of the urban street grid. Additionally, the rebuilding of the bridges that cross over 94 incorporate some much needed upgrades by incorporating “Advanced Bridges” that include wide sidewalks with protective barriers and pedestrian lighting.
As part of the modernization project, MDOT will increase the number of crossings to better connect neighborhoods that have been divided by the highway. Just in the area around the Packard Plant on the east side there are seven new crossings (although there are a few removed as well), some converting former pedestrians bridges to full local street connectors with increased rooms for sidewalks and biking. Additionally, there are proposed local connecters that better connect areas around the I-94/I-75 interchange at Hastings Street and Harper Avenue. There is also a proposed extension of Holden Street under M-10 which will serve to better connect some of the new areas of Henry Ford Health’s expansion in New Center.
I’m not really going to comment on whether or not I-94 needed to be expanded because the project is already well underway, but it’s safe to say there are plenty of people who disagree with the expansion. However, I will say that the increased connectivity over and under the highway is a nice addition to the project, making it more than must a highway widening. I also do think that traffic safety has come a long way since I-94 was last upgraded and thus, there are many concerns addressed in the project that will hopefully reduce collisions, both auto and pedestrian. Similar to I-75 through Downtown, I don’t think removal of any part of I-94 was in the cards, but perhaps the widening and modernization will show that current highways meet all of the personal and commercial demand and prevent more widening projects in the future and potentially lead to some removals.