The Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) has presented an alternative vision for the I-375 redesign, featuring significant changes to the initial plans by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), which included nine lanes of traffic along the new boulevard. According to CBS News Detroit, the DDP proposal calls for a reduction to five or six lanes, allowing for wider sidewalks, additional parking, and a design more accommodating to pedestrians and cyclists. The partnership's CEO, Eric Larson, emphasized the benefits of "connecting, at grade, two communities that have been divided now for sixty years" and restoring "tree line streets."
Further refining this vision, a peer review report, funded by the Kresge Foundation, advocates for even more pedestrian space instead of a median, prioritizes trees in population-dense areas, and proposes an interchange that caters to the community, potentially accommodating housing and businesses. Larson highlights the importance of considering the negative impacts previous infrastructure projects have had on local businesses, as he told The Detroit News, "You never, ever want to lose any ground, especially having come off of some of the really challenging years that we have not so distant in our rearview mirror."
The DDP analysis also sheds light on the historical losses that Detroit's Black Bottom and Paradise Valley communities endured due to I-375's original construction, displacing around 2,600 residents and families. The current redesign phase offers an opportunity for reparative action to address past harms and reunite neighborhoods, as the peer review report suggests. As detailed by CBS News Detroit, MDOT is expected to begin the extensive reconstruction project next year, slated to last until 2028.
DDP's efforts to engage the community remain crucial, as residents have the opportunity to voice their opinions at the upcoming MDOT public meeting on Dec. 3. Larson encourages public participation to avoid replicating past harms and to shape a project that will have long-term impacts on urban infrastructures, as per his comments, cited by Detroit Free Press. Meanwhile, the ReThink I-375 Coalition, representing concerned residents, has urged MDOT to consider the DDP's recommendations seriously in the redesign process, as stated in a press release represented by Colleen Robar, a downtown resident whose PR firm is working with the coalition.
