Detroit: Removal of I-375 could come as I-94 is widened

[marmar]

(Detroit Free Press) Perhaps the biggest irony in Detroit development now is the possibility that we may see I-375 removed for a surface street, restoring a neighborhood feel to downtown Detroit’s east side, even as road builders widen I-94, bulldozing more lanes of asphalt through the heart of the city’s rapidly developing Midtown district.

So far, the removal of I-375 is just a possibility. As reported last week in the Free Press, the Detroit Downtown Development Authority is likely to vote soon on hiring a consultant to manage a visioning process for the I-375 corridor. The visioning exercise will take several months. Possibilities range from rebuilding I-375 as is to filling in the trench-like freeway and recreating a surface street in any one of various ways.

Further north in the trendy Midtown district, the widening of I-94 by one lane in each direction plus new service drives is far more certain, although opponents still hope to block it. SEMCOG, the regional planning authority, earlier this year approved the widening of I-94 as part of its long-term transportation plan, a key step toward making the project happen in years to come.

Fierce opinions can be heard over both projects. Of the hundreds of comments offered on the Free Press’ I-375 story last week, many supported the idea of slowing down the traffic and restoring a more walkable urban environment. Others, many of them suburban commuters or sports fans, howled that they couldn’t lose their high-speed access to downtown destinations. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20131201/BUSINESS06/312010066/I-375-I-94-MDOT-freeways-Detroit

[RandySF]

1. Sounds like a mess.

[msongs]

2. nice to see there is money to hire "a consultant" but not pay creditors nt

[marmar]

3. The DDA is independent of city government.

[Festivito]

4. The freeways were for segregation that is no longer useful.

And, with the riverfront being de-industrialized, making the river walkable up to Belle Isle makes sense.

[navarth]

5. Midtown is the best part of town

I really hope you're not telling me they're going to ruin Midtown with this deal. Why do we need I-94 widened there? WTF.

I have mixed feeling about removing I-375, but that mostly because I'm used to it. But widening I-94 in any way that would hurt Midtown sounds absolutely fucking crazy to me. We don't need to shoot ourselves in the foot again.

I read Gallagher's article, it's actually very good.

"...a wide range of urban planners in city after city have coalesced around the idea that freeways do more to destroy cities than to help them."

Yup.

I know that I-375 destroyed Black Bottom, one of the great centers of the black culture in Detroit. I sure wish it had still been around when I got old enough to appreciate it. I had to learn about it through the storytelling of older musicians.

Yup, I'm used to I-375, but it might be a good thing to pull it up like those cities out west did. Food for thought.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. I don't believe I-375 will be removed.

It is the easiest access for people to get in and out of downtown. I can't tell you how many times I have directed people to I\the I-375 on ramp to help them. You can get to any freeway from there.

Besides that, you don't really want to be on a surface street through some of the area that I-375 goes through, well not at night at least. Jefferson isn't that bad but you won't catch me on Mack or East Warren that far downtown late at night and I live 6 houses off Mack and about 3.5 blocks from East Warren.

I even doubt that I-94 will get extra lanes. With the winter we had, spending money on repairs makes much more sense. The roads here are terrible right now.