A proposal to cover part of the Fisher Freeway with a concrete pad that could host new parks, businesses and housing is closely connected to broader plans to reunite neighborhoods with downtown Detroit and its slowly developing entertainment district.
The Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) was awarded $2 million in federal funds this spring to collect public feedback and study options to cover the below-grade highway. A six-month planning study is underway to consider the implications of capping I-75, essentially turning it into a tunnel beneath new real estate that could host public parks, commercial and housing developments, and new transit options.
“We recognize the way I-75 has disconnected communities in and around Detroit,” said DDP Project Manager James Fidler. “There is a need for more green space and an interest in how public space supports multiple audiences. You have residential neighborhoods adjacent to the freeway but it’s running through the heart of an entertainment district, and the public space has to serve multiple users and purposes.”
The proposal aligns with a similar vision, with a different approach, for improving access to downtown from east side neighborhoods across I-375. Both highway projects received funding from a federal program aimed at reconnecting communities across America that were isolated by transportation infrastructure.
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Capping the freeway is also connected to anticipated real estate developments in District Detroit, a long-stalled plan for housing, offices, hotels and public spaces led by the Ilitch family and Stephen Ross. Representatives from District Detroit’s joint development team – Related Co. and Olympia Development – are serving on a stakeholder group meeting monthly to advise DDP.
Chris Jackson is a local developer and chair of the neighborhood advisory group that negotiated community benefits for District Detroit. He’s representing the advisory group, which remains an active partner with the District Detroit team, in stakeholder meetings for the I-75 project.
“It’s a good thing to get rid of the moat,” Jackson said. “You’re trying to correct what was poor urban planning when it was done initially and you have to look at it in context of what are in those areas now and how do we as part of trying to correct the wrong what does the new look like as downtown does not remain this island any longer.”
Jackson said there’s not enough green space in lower Cass Corridor and Brush Park neighborhoods. He also sees opportunities for retail, commercial and residential developments. But the main goal, Jackson said, is to create a more walkable community.
“There’s been a lot of community engagement,” Jackson said. “To some extent it was taking place as we were negotiating the community benefits agreement. We wanted to see those communities connected.”
Fidler said capping I-75 is also viewed as an opportunity to encourage economic growth.
MDOT would build the concrete cover and own new real estate created by the lid. Fidler said the state will decide who will control the land after the project is finished.
“The notion of reconnecting downtown to the neighborhoods has been a conversation taking place for many years,” Fidler said. “Conversations around the District Detroit were one of many that led us to explore capping I-75. People are interested in ways to make the downtown more walkable, bikeable and more connected broadly to the city and region.”
Fidler said the project has the full support of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the city of Detroit. The DDP study area spans a portion of I-75 from Third Street to Brush Street, but Fidler said the cap probably won’t stretch that far.
“Trying to figure out where the cap may fall is really important,” Fidler said. The decision will be shaped by feedback gathered from residents.
The first of three public meetings was held in June, with additional meetings planned for undetermined dates in August and October. Roughly 70 residents attended the first meeting, while a survey released this month collected 800 responses so far.
Detroiters can stay updated by signing up for the DDP’s email newsletter and sending feedback to TheRoadAhead@downtowndetroit.org.
The I-75 project is located a mile from another major highway project with a similar construction timeline. MDOT is planning to raise I-375 to street level and create a boulevard that promises to improve links between lower east side neighborhoods and downtown Detroit. The underground freeway was built on top of formerly majority-Black neighborhoods.
Capping I-375 was considered unfeasible because of the width of the freeway. Likewise, raising I-75 was deemed unwise due to the high volume of traffic running along it. MDOT data shows roughly 97,200 vehicles travel along I-75 on the average day.
Construction is likely to happen on the I-75 cap and I-375 reconfiguration at the same time. Both projects are expected to begin in 2025 and wrap up by 2028. Fidler said the projects are almost immediately adjacent to each other but are being planned separately.
A federal fact sheet states that capping I-75 would improve connections to the University of Michigan’s Center for Innovation, a key piece of the District Detroit vision spearheaded by a joint development team under Ross and the Ilitches.
Plans to cap I-75 were discussed in 2023 during negotiations between residents and developers who secured public subsidies for the latest District Detroit plan. Developers pledged to provide up to $400,000 to the city or DDP to study a “pedestrian and green space overpass” between John R. Street and Cass Avenue.
Other members of the DDP stakeholder group include representatives from MDOT and the city; development firms like Bedrock, Queen Lillian and the Sterling Group; Cass Technical High School, Brush Park Community Development Corporation as well as the Detroit Association of Black Organizations; Good Cakes and Bakes, Cliff Bells, professional sports teams and Huntington Bank; U-M and Wayne State University; Asian American community members representing the former Chinatown neighborhood and nearby churches.
DDP is seeking to collect input from residents in an impact area that largely resembles the impact area for District Detroit community benefits discussions in 2023.
The next year will be spent securing funding and finalizing the design before construction starts. Fidler said it’s unclear how much the I-75 project will cost. He said it will depend on design decisions that haven’t been finalized.
Highway capping projects have a long history. DDP is taking lessons from projects in other communities like Columbus, Pittsburg, Seattle, Philadelphia and Dallas.
Federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act is helping to create new highway capping projects across the country. The Biden administration says these investments will repair damage done to Black and immigrant neighborhoods split by destructive interstate highway projects.
I-75 runs roughly 1,786 miles from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Florida.
A highway cap to reconnect Philadelphia’s Chinatown and a portion of I-75 in downtown Atlanta is being planned. Another federal grant was awarded to reconnect a Black neighborhood once home to formerly enslaved people in Macon, Georgia.
Federal funds are also going to cover a highway in Portland, Oregon that split historic Black neighborhoods.
Consider: Who will choose to call home a dark netherworld under the lid.