DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Michigan Department of Transportation has postponed the I-375 Reconnecting Communities project that was set to begin construction this fall and continue into 2029.
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The project would have transformed the nation's shortest highway into a surface-level boulevard, but rising costs and community pushback about the specific redesign plan selected led to MDOT's decision to pause.
"We weren't pro-boulevard or against-boulevard. We did not like the current design," said Dr. Rebecca Chung of the Rethink I-375 Coalition.
For the last two years, Detroit residents like Chung have been asking MDOT to reconsider their plans for the I-375 project.
"There's excitement and concern. We have many residents that want a more walkable Detroit, so the idea of having any road instead of what we call the moat is very appealing to them. And then we have other residents who are very concerned because they're small business owners and they know no one will be able to do business in this neighborhood while construction is happening," Chung said.
Historically, the land where I-375 now sits was home to two thriving African American communities — Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. As the freeway was constructed in the 1960s, neighborhood residents and businesses were displaced.
The I-375 project was designed to replace the 1-mile stretch over the next five years. It represented not only an opportunity to update aging infrastructure and bridges but also an effort in restorative justice.
After noting rising costs and growing pushback from Detroiters about the specific redesign plan selected, MDOT announced it would postpone the project, bringing a sigh of relief for residents unsure about the current course of action.
"It would have been a very wide road, and when people started examining pedestrian crossings, they said it is not reasonable to think pedestrians will feel safe crossing these intersections, particularly seniors and children," Chung said.
Chung says another concern top of mind was accessibility for emergency vehicles, given the length of the project.
MDOT sent the following statement to 7 News Detroit:
MDOT’s decision to pause the I-375 project was not taken lightly. Significant momentum has been gained in recent years as we continued working through public engagement to ensure the selected design would meet the needs of all users. It’s difficult to reach a consensus with all parties when developing a project of this magnitude.
MDOT started seriously considering the future of the I-375 corridor in 2014, when we conducted a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study. PEL studies are intended to consider environmental, community, and economic considerations as part of the early planning of a project, and I-375 is the perfect mix of business and residential, with needs for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. A location with all these considerations requires an in-depth review, and based on the feedback we’ve received most recently, we’re not confident we’ve landed on the most ideal design.
We don’t know what this pause means for the timeline of the project, but the $37 million investment to date has yielded valuable information we’ll continue to use as we work toward a final design. We do know we have poor pavement and bridge conditions, with at least four bridge locations that require an action plan sooner rather than later. Next steps and continued opportunities for public engagement will be announced in advance of their start.
Jocelyn Garza
Deputy Director of Public Affairs for Communications and Media Relations
Michigan Department of Transportation
As part of its postponement, all related meetings for the project have been canceled. It's unclear when planning will resume, but MDOT says community input will continue to be an important part of the process.
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