News:

Thank you for your patience during the Forum downtime while we upgraded the software. Welcome back and see this thread for some new features and other changes to the forum.

Main Menu

Michigan Notes

Started by MDOTFanFB, October 26, 2012, 08:06:31 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

KelleyCook

Quote from: afguy on March 07, 2024, 05:09:31 PM
The Mayor of Lansing penned an op ed in the Lansing State Journal today calling for the city to seek a federal grant to put a cap over a portion of I-496 through Lansing.
I'm the mayor of Lansing. We need a federal grant to fix harm caused by I-496. | Opinion
QuoteToday, thanks to federal financing provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, my city is seeking to reconnect the 400 isolated households and businesses with the community to which they originally belonged. And we want to recognize and give power to those who were forcibly displaced and dispersed throughout the city.

Divided and disconnected neighborhoods are an all-too-common consequence of urban highway construction during the 1960s and 1970s. When U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg launched Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grants, he said, "These highways, roads, and railways are not rivers, lakes, or mountains, they're not divinely ordained. They're decisions. And we can make better decisions than what came before." The federal funds seemed tailor-made for Lansing. But our application in 2022 was not successful. The pool of money available then was modest – about $188 million. The requests nationally were far greater – totaling $2 billion. And so remains the demand.

Undeterred, we have reapplied. This time we have assistance from the Local Infrastructure Hub, a national program created in 2022 – and led by a consortium of philanthropic and nonprofit groups – to offer pro-bono resources to cities like ours. The federal government has made more than $3 billion available this round. That gave us hope. And the Local Infrastructure Hub gave us the tools for a vastly improved proposal. We knew we had a compelling history to tell. The program's experts showed us how to back it up and equipped us with tools to make our case.

Our new application underscores national data that shows people, especially families with children, living close to expressways experience poor lung health, including asthma, pulmonary disease, and reduced lung-function growth among young people. Additional research has shown increased rates of heart problems as a result of air pollution sourced from roadways. We also know that property facing or adjacent to expressways experience reduced property values. Bloomberg Philanthropies, by forming a coalition of national charitable organizations and civic groups including the Ballmer Group, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, Results for America and more, has leveled the playing field for localities lacking armies of grant writers, lawyers, and statisticians — like ours. In addition to bringing together the support and specialists, the program also connects mayors representing municipalities of all sizes with federal agency heads overseeing these programs, as well as with each other. Now, Lansing is applying for a $1.3 million grant to seek community views and design corrective options. Our preference would be a cap, or deck, over a portion of I-496 to connect those isolated blocks to the rest of the city with parks, housing, even a memorial recognizing how a Black community was separated.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing has collected oral histories from current and former residents. We want those voices to be heard. Just six months ago we released "They Even Took the Dirt", a documentary about that dislocation.

Lansing is a city of 113,000; one out of four of our residents is Black. This federal grant is written for our community's experience. But we're not alone. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 displaced more than 475,000 households across the country, most of them in communities of color.

We can't rebuild what has been destroyed. But we can still correct a wrong. And like that third grader years ago bouncing a ball at the Main Street School, we'll succeed if we persist. If we can reconnect communities, we can begin to unite a nation.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2024/03/07/i-496-lansing-expressway-infrastructure-interstate-federal-grant/72698665007/

Dear Mayor of Lansing,

Your idea has merit.

But perhaps you should have brought this proposal up *before* we spent $70M to tear down and replace the whole freeway last year.

Please call us back in 50 years when the Olds is due for another overhaul.

Sincerely,
The MDOT budget folks


JREwing78

What does MDOT have to do with a federal grant? Also, how does this cap-and-cover proposal affect the recent roadwork on I-496?

SM-G991U


roadman65

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iVjUth1j8Ce6prVM9
Is this the eastern terminus of US 12?

I noticed no signage indicating that it begins or ends here like nearby M-85 has both a beginning and End assembly.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EqzXLcYHGSseaRPU9

I'm also guessing that M-85 used to continue one block further to end at the Square which also allowed US 25, once upon a time, to continue through the Square.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Flint1979

Quote from: roadman65 on March 13, 2024, 01:49:04 PM
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iVjUth1j8Ce6prVM9
Is this the eastern terminus of US 12?

I noticed no signage indicating that it begins or ends here like nearby M-85 has both a beginning and End assembly.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EqzXLcYHGSseaRPU9

I'm also guessing that M-85 used to continue one block further to end at the Square which also allowed US 25, once upon a time, to continue through the Square.
US-12 ends at Cass Avenue a few blocks west of there. US-25 looped around the park and onto Cadillac Square to connect to Randolph and onto Gratiot.

The Ghostbuster

It would have been nice to have an End US 12 sign at the Cass Ave./Michigan Ave. intersection. Instead, the first US 12 West sign is a short distance past the 3rd Ave./Michigan Ave. intersection (a little west of the Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko Statue). The last US 12 East sign is just east of the Michigan Ave./John Lodge Service Dr./Sixth St. intersection (just over the median of the M-10 John C. Lodge Freeway).

roadman65

Quote from: Flint1979 on March 13, 2024, 02:24:02 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 13, 2024, 01:49:04 PM
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iVjUth1j8Ce6prVM9
Is this the eastern terminus of US 12?

I noticed no signage indicating that it begins or ends here like nearby M-85 has both a beginning and End assembly.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EqzXLcYHGSseaRPU9

I'm also guessing that M-85 used to continue one block further to end at the Square which also allowed US 25, once upon a time, to continue through the Square.
US-12 ends at Cass Avenue a few blocks west of there. US-25 looped around the park and onto Cadillac Square to connect to Randolph and onto Gratiot.

So US 12 got truncated.  I know originally US 10, 12, 16, and 112 all ended at Cadillac Square at one time.  I don't know about jurisdiction with MDOT and the City of Detroit, but I'm guessing that state maintenance stops at Cass for the city to end it there and prior to the truncation MDOT maintained it all to the square.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

afguy

Should a 'lid' be built over I-75 in Detroit? Grants will fund a study of the feasibility.

QuoteNearly $4.3 million in federal grants and private money will fund a study of the feasibility of putting a lid, or cap, over a portion of Interstate 75 in downtown Detroit to connect and beautify the area — potentially with a park or other green space above the sunken trench of concrete.

One award, which was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is designated for the Downtown Detroit Partnership, whose application was backed by the state Department of Transportation. The I-75 "overbuild" planning project will conduct community engagement and analyze building a deck over the freeway to reconnect neighborhoods to the north, Midtown and Brush Park, with downtown.

The announcement is the latest boost for the concept, which comes amid a plan to raise nearby I-375 to street level and convert it to a six-lane boulevard. Detroit got a $1.9 million grant, backed by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, to study the capping idea under a spending bill signed last week by President Joe Biden.

And the developers of The District Detroit, Olympia Development of Michigan and The Related Cos., agreed to contribute a $400,000 match to the Downtown Detroit Partnership as part of tax incentives and a community benefits agreement that were approved roughly a year ago.

"The interesting thing about the cap is not only does it really connect the two sections of our downtown, but it also provides for some great public space on top of the cap," Downtown Detroit Partnership CEO Eric Larson said. "Think about what could be, depending on the size of the cap, a very significant public space or park that becomes a community asset. We'll be doing a lot of studies around that. We don't have any predetermined conclusions. And that's why this grant is so important." It is unknown how much the I-75 lid would cost. Talk of the cap sprung from talks about overhauling I-375 and picked up steam during the District Detroit community benefits process, Larson said, when questions were posed on how to restitch downtown and make it more attractive.

"There was an opportunity to not only think about I-375 but also how the overall transportation network in the downtown was coming together. There is a significant amount of investment over the next 10 years that's going to be required by MDOT and the city. When we make those investments, what do we do to make sure that they are not only smart but also long-term? And 75 came into focus," he said.

Asked how big the lid could be, Larson said it depends. It could range from 3 or 4 acres to "significantly larger" if it covered the entire east-west span downtown, he said, pointing to the 7.8-mile Big Dig project in Boston and the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park in Dallas.

The "deck park," which opened in 2012, was built over a recessed eight-lane freeway. The $110 million project had $56.7 million in government funding, with the rest coming from donations to a foundation.
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/politics-policy/i-75-could-be-capped-downtown-detroit

The Ghostbuster

The Fisher Freeway between Interstate 96 and where Interstate 75 turns north onto the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway would be the best locations to build caps over the Interstate 75 freeway downtown. Maybe the caps would also make the freeways seem like less of a barrier to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Flint1979

Quote from: roadman65 on March 14, 2024, 01:12:07 PM
Quote from: Flint1979 on March 13, 2024, 02:24:02 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 13, 2024, 01:49:04 PM
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iVjUth1j8Ce6prVM9
Is this the eastern terminus of US 12?

I noticed no signage indicating that it begins or ends here like nearby M-85 has both a beginning and End assembly.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EqzXLcYHGSseaRPU9

I'm also guessing that M-85 used to continue one block further to end at the Square which also allowed US 25, once upon a time, to continue through the Square.
US-12 ends at Cass Avenue a few blocks west of there. US-25 looped around the park and onto Cadillac Square to connect to Randolph and onto Gratiot.

So US 12 got truncated.  I know originally US 10, 12, 16, and 112 all ended at Cadillac Square at one time.  I don't know about jurisdiction with MDOT and the City of Detroit, but I'm guessing that state maintenance stops at Cass for the city to end it there and prior to the truncation MDOT maintained it all to the square.
By a few blocks yeah. All of the state trunklines end in random spots downtown Like M-1, M-3, M-5, US-12, M-85 all end at a random intersection downtown. None of them serve Cadillac Square at the present time.

afguy

MDOT has launched a study of the I-75 corridor between Square Lake Rd in Oakland County and U.S.23 in Genessee County. The study will determine what short-, mid- and long-term solutions are needed for the corridor. Personally, I would love to see the M-59/I-75 interchange rebuilt with flyovers and I-75 widened to 8 lanes between Josyln Rd and U.S. 23.
https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/studies/additional-studies/i-75-corridor-study

The Ghostbuster

I think the US 24/Dixie Hwy. interchange (Exit 93) should be reconstructed to eliminate the excessive space between the northbound and southbound lanes. I would make the reconstructed interchange itself either a diamond interchange, a single-point urban interchange, or a diverging-diamond interchange, depending on the traffic demands for the interchange. The Saginaw Rd./Dixie Hwy. interchange (Exit 106) should also be reconfigured to eliminate all left-handed exit and entrance ramps.

KelleyCook

Quote from: afguy on March 28, 2024, 09:04:50 PMMDOT has launched a study of the I-75 corridor between Square Lake Rd in Oakland County and U.S.23 in Genessee County. The study will determine what short-, mid- and long-term solutions are needed for the corridor. Personally, I would love to see the M-59/I-75 interchange rebuilt with flyovers and I-75 widened to 8 lanes between Josyln Rd and U.S. 23.
https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/studies/additional-studies/i-75-corridor-study

M-59 interchange obviously needs serious fixing to eliminate the weaving and less than adequate acceleration lanes.

Both interchanges with Dixie Highway need to be completely redesigned to get rid of the left hand entrances.  Especially the dangerous one on the limited sight hill from exit 93 going onto NB I-75.

M-15, Sashabaw, Josyln, Baldwin, and University/CTC exits have been re-engineered over the past 20 years so are good, IMO.

It might be time to add in a Davisburg interchange in the huge reserved space between the two rest areas as the Oakland county segment of I-275 was cancelled over thirty years ago.

Obviously all of it needs to be expanded to four lanes for the exact same reason.

So I was all for giving my input for that study, except it turns out that the webpage is following what has become the new MDOT tradition in that it is both detail-less and wholly untransparent.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.