Detroit Free Press
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The ReThink I-375 Community Coalition is asking MDOT for vision and accountability with its I-375 Chrysler Freeway project.This $300 million investment of federal and local funds will transform an important Detroit neighborhood — and a major transit gateway into the city for decades to come. And yet those of us who will be most affected still want to know: What is the master plan here?
Hundreds of residents, small business owners and local leaders in the area around I-375 have joined as the ReThink I-375 Community Coalition to bring attention to MDOT’s slow-motion catastrophe that is — as of now — still avoidable.
MDOT is pursuing the I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project to reconfigure the I-75/I-375 interchange, replacing both the Gratiot Connector and I-375 with surface-level roads. It would affect the Eastern Market, Greektown, Downtown, Riverfront, Brush Park, Lafayette Park and Elmwood Park neighborhoods, as well as the entire lower eastside’s access to downtown and, via I-75, the region. The results, cast in concrete, will take three or more years to build and impact Detroit’s future for generations.
More: I-375 redo in Detroit should be about flow, connecting neighborhoods and synergy
After years of community dissatisfaction with the details of the plan, MDOT has made some revisions, yet it seems to us that it is still just a mess of roads in search of a purpose.
That’s no way to do right by Detroiters.
The ReThink coalition is asking MDOT to seize the opportunity to create a project that shows the nation what we know is true: that Detroit is not afraid of hard conversations about the impact of racist policies like Urban Renewal from the 1950s and 60s; that Detroit is a place that innovates and takes risks; that Detroiters use bikes, scooters, buses and our own strolling feet; that Detroiters can creatively plan for new public spaces. Without a vision, this project cannot accomplish any of that.
The total cost is $300 million, with $104.6 million coming from a federal grant. MDOT asserts that there can be no extensions on the federal funding that’s enabling the highway project and they need to get started in phases – but they’ve never asked the federal government for more time. If MDOT insists on breaking ground in 2025, it must work with the city to complete and share the framework plan’s vision by the end of 2024. Anything less means the road is designing the community, not the other way around.
Issues such as the lack of a serious approach to restorative justice, poor urban design, limited walkability and construction mitigation were first voiced in January 2021 and recorded in the March 2022 federal document that gave MDOT’s project permission to proceed. Those concerns remain unanswered.
More opinion: Who is design of I-375 in downtown Detroit really for?
Recent reduction in the number of lanes planned for the new boulevard have been hard won. Community members advocated for this change throughout 2023. Only after an angry, standing-room-only November town hall led by state Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, did MDOT agree to a new traffic study to replace the outdated, pre-pandemic one. The result: changing the project from nine lanes of traffic to six.
The 1956 National Highway Act gave the city the funds to begin an urban renewal project in earnest, replacing Black Bottom and Paradise Valley with the Chrysler Freeway. We don’t want the federal money of today to repeat the mistakes of the past.We need a transparent master plan for what is built in place of I-375 that recognizes historic communities and builds up today’s neighborhoods and businesses. You can’t design while you construct. We want MDOT to plan, communicate, and only then, act.
As recently as its June 25 public meeting, MDOT has insisted that construction must start in just 18 months, so how exactly will serious community concerns be addressed in later phases? Time is running out. The ReThink I-375 Community Coalition has published 11 points for MDOT to adopt that will improve this process and repair the trust that MDOT has eroded by barreling ahead despite repeated pleas to stop, listen, and respond.
If you agree, sign the petition at rethinki375.org and tell your elected leaders that it’s in Detroit’s best interests to rethink I-375.
Carl Bentley, Bryan Boyer, Bernadette Doré, Trish Hubbell, J. Gregory Love, Melanie Markowicz, Kimle Nailer, Olga Stella and Christian Unverzagt
The writers are members of the ReThink I-375 Community Coalition, and residents of the affected neighborhoods
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