Detroit - Removal of I-375

[kphoger]

It wasn't enough to remove a freeway, now they wanna remove lanes too? Fine. I better not hear anyone from Detroit complain about traffic.

And I think they should also...

[GaryV]

There will be less traffic. They can't get anyone to occupy the Ren Cen - might tear down 2 of the towers.

[74/171FAN]

I honestly have thought the entire time that the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge (whenever that happens) pretty much ended any need for I-375.

[Henry]

There will be less traffic. They can't get anyone to occupy the Ren Cen - might tear down 2 of the towers.

That might be justified, because GM, the complex's largest tenant, is set to leave for a new state-of-the-art complex elsewhere in town.

I honestly have thought the entire time that the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge (whenever that happens) pretty much ended any need for I-375.

Yeah, having both the new bridge and I-375 sounds like overkill, especially when the city's population isn't even one-thirds of what it had been 70 years ago.

[thenetwork]

Not to mention Downtown Detroit will still have freeway access into town via M-10/Lodge Freeway from the west.

[Flint1979]

It wasn't enough to remove a freeway, now they wanna remove lanes too? Fine. I better not hear anyone from Detroit complain about traffic.

Removing I-375 isn't going to hamper Detroit traffic much at all.

[Flint1979]

It wasn't enough to remove a freeway, now they wanna remove lanes too? Fine. I better not hear anyone from Detroit complain about traffic.

And I think they should also...

There are speed bumps everywhere in Detroit. A lot of residential streets have speed bumps.

[Flint1979]

There will be less traffic. They can't get anyone to occupy the Ren Cen - might tear down 2 of the towers.

That might be justified, because GM, the complex's largest tenant, is set to leave for a new state-of-the-art complex elsewhere in town.

I honestly have thought the entire time that the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge (whenever that happens) pretty much ended any need for I-375.

Yeah, having both the new bridge and I-375 sounds like overkill, especially when the city's population isn't even one-thirds of what it had been 70 years ago.

Yeah they are moving to the Hudson Building. The new bridge and 375 have nothing to do with each other though.

[Flint1979]

Not to mention Downtown Detroit will still have freeway access into town via M-10/Lodge Freeway from the west.

Downtown Detroit still has freeway access via I-75 as well.

[mgk920]

With the passing of time, the future 'Detroit' will be a vastly different place than it was several decades ago, we're already seeing it with the transformation of the downtown area.  With the continuing passing on of those with direct memories of the 'bad old days', the younger crowd is discovering an amazing place with ooodles of blank space interspersed with interesting structures that add a level of urban character that will be irresistible to them.  It will be very interesting to see the transport network that they will build for it.

Mike

[GaryV]

There are speed bumps everywhere in Detroit. A lot of residential streets have speed bumps.

There's even speed bumps on streets that go through near desolation, like this street near Mt Elliot and I-94: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pSymosKmpezgqsf58 (Recently had to go through there because Mt Elliot was closed for construction.)

And if they don't have constructed speed bumps, they have potholes that serve the same purpose. Maybe even better, because they're not marked, traffic has to slow down for the whole run of the street.

[The Ghostbuster]

Now if only they could rebuild the neighborhoods that have seen a truckload of houses torn down over the last few decades, although if no one wants to move to Detroit and live in those neighborhoods, the lots will remain vacant. Still, I find those vacant lots to be an eyesore.

[Flint1979]

There are speed bumps everywhere in Detroit. A lot of residential streets have speed bumps.

There's even speed bumps on streets that go through near desolation, like this street near Mt Elliot and I-94: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pSymosKmpezgqsf58 (Recently had to go through there because Mt Elliot was closed for construction.)

And if they don't have constructed speed bumps, they have potholes that serve the same purpose. Maybe even better, because they're not marked, traffic has to slow down for the whole run of the street.

Yep I'm familiar with the streets in that part of Detroit. As soon as I saw Sherwood I thought I know where that's at lol. I know where a lot of streets are in Detroit off the top of my head that some people have probably never heard of. I was watching a police chase video on youtube and the MSP were chasing someone down one of those streets with speed bumps. It was somewhere off 8 Mile on the west side barely inside the city limits.

I hate going down the streets that have them because they are close together and you almost have to come to a stop to go over them.

[Flint1979]

Now if only they could rebuild the neighborhoods that have seen a truckload of houses torn down over the last few decades, although if no one wants to move to Detroit and live in those neighborhoods, the lots will remain vacant. Still, I find those vacant lots to be an eyesore.

Better than having a building that is an even bigger eyesore taking up the real estate. Some of the outer neighborhoods have new construction going on.

[FightingIrish]

Now if only they could rebuild the neighborhoods that have seen a truckload of houses torn down over the last few decades, although if no one wants to move to Detroit and live in those neighborhoods, the lots will remain vacant. Still, I find those vacant lots to be an eyesore.

All of those vacant neighborhoods do create a rather interesting opportunity as a blank canvas for future development, as the city builds itself back up.

[mgk920]

Emergency services people also *HATE* those speed bumps as they really gum up their acts.

Mike

[kphoger]

For what it's worth, I was joking that they should install speed bumps all along the de-Interstate-ified corridor.

[afguy]

MDOT moving ahead with I-375 reconstruction amid project's mixed reception

State transportation officials are moving forward with a long-planned $300 million reconstruction of Interstate 375 in Detroit, despite a range of concerns, including its four-year construction timeline, how it could impact local businesses and if it does enough to heal past racial harms.

MDOT plans to begin work later this year on reconstructing the mile-long sunken freeway, which connects Jefferson Avenue and Interstate 75, into a four-lane, street-level boulevard lined with businesses, houses and open space. Plans for the earliest stages of work include constructing a drainage system for the new road, which will happen on Sweitzer Place south of Jefferson Avenue. The agency has to start the work before 2026, under a grant agreement for federal funds received for the project from former President Joe Biden's infrastructure package.

The reconstruction is also expected to free up 30 acres of land currently owned by MDOT because the street-level roadway will be narrower than the freeway.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2025/06/25/mdot-moving-ahead-with-i-375-reconstruction/84027442007/

[tigerwings]

Its dead for now:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2025/08/11/i-375-changes-paused-detroit-controversial-pushback/85613599007/

[silverback1065]

wow I never thought I would see the day that they voted AGAINST a freeway removal 

[Plutonic Panda]

Well then they need to rebuild it and keep it.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does this mean Interstate 375 may not be converted to a boulevard at all? Or is this just a temporary reprieve and the boulevard will be constructed at a later date? They should, at least, construct the Interstate 75 improvements through the existing 75/375 interchange.

[wanderer2575]

Does this mean Interstate 375 may not be converted to a boulevard at all? Or is this just a temporary reprieve and the boulevard will be constructed at a later date? They should, at least, construct the Interstate 75 improvements through the existing 75/375 interchange.

Who knows?  At worst, everything that's been planned might be scuttled and the whole thing goes back to Square One.  What's certain is that it would make no sense to construct an I-75 realignment without a definite plan of how it would tie into all other legs, including the freeway or boulevard or whatever that is now I-375.  So I expect there will be no action except continuing to throw cold patch into potholes and waste money shoring up the crumbling bridges.

I emphasize that I have no connection to anybody involved in Black Bottom, it didn't/doesn't directly affect me, and I have no horse in the race.  Maybe that makes it easier for me to roll my eyes at the whole thing.  But some of the comments mystify me:

• "...this project needs to follow from a vision that respects the complexity of the land use, transportation, urban design, local business, and restorative justice issues at play in the I-375 corridor," reads a statement from the ReThink I-375 Community Coalition.
• "Going forward, residents, businesses, Black Bottom descendants, and other stakeholders should be engaged in a public-private partnership to develop a vision that the entire community can support, and a project whose results will be worth the inevitable disruption and cost of a massive infrastructure project in downtown Detroit."
• "Show me the evidence, and I mean specifics.  Show me the clear and itemized benefits that this project will provide to the Black community, and exactly how it will repair and compensate for the unprecedented damage that was done all those years ago."

That last point is impossible.  It definitely was a bad idea to plow this freeway through 60+ years ago as it was done, but the fact is that it happened.  To paraphrase a line from Deep Space Nine:  Black Bottom is gone and it won't be coming back.  So just what the hell does everybody want now?  Getting rid of 375 has been on the table for decades and this Community Coalition seems to have done nothing but bitch about it.  How much more can you connect a divided community than by filling in the dividing trench?  They want more?  Okay, what's their vision; what do they want to see?  I hear nothing but crickets.  "Compensate for the unprecedented damage"?  Is that concern #1; the outrage is that they want someone to give them some money?

Screw it.  MDOT should walk away, let the damn thing fall apart and collapse on its own, and spend its planned $400 million somewhere else.

[Henry]

Talk about an about-face...but why keep a freeway that no one uses, except maybe for game time in downtown Detroit?

[wanderer2575]

Talk about an about-face...but why keep a freeway that no one uses, except maybe for game time in downtown Detroit?

It's not about keeping the freeway.  It's about what else to put in its place.