A phased approach is how the Michigan Department of Transportation is describing the work ahead for the project to replace Interstate 375 in Detroit.
After announcing it was hitting pause on the massive effort this summer, MDOT has restarted the clock on a project that’s expected to create a surface street-level boulevard in place of the interstate on the edge of downtown.
A major adjustment going forward involves pushing out the timing and decision on the ultimate configuration of the interchange with I-75.
Jason Garza, deputy region engineer for MDOT, said at a community meeting Thursday, Nov. 13, that that’s likely 10 years away.
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In the meantime, MDOT will move forward with work on a storm sewer this year and next south of Jefferson Avenue and, pending approval by the Federal Highway Administration, fill in the I-375 freeway trench and build the surface street-level boulevard from Jefferson to Gratiot Avenue in 2027 and 2028. As part of the boulevard project, the bridge at Gratiot over the Dequindre Cut would also be rebuilt.
The sewer portion would mean a separated system that sends stormwater directly to the Detroit River rather than having it treated, a process expected to reduce the likelihood of sewer overflows and flooding.
The cost of the project, minus the delayed interchange portion, is now estimated at $120 million. The prior price tag, including the interchange and other work connected to Eastern Market, was estimated at $520 million.
At MDOT’s community meeting, Garza compared the significance of the I-375 project to “open heart surgery for the city.”
He told the Detroit Free Press the pause had allowed MDOT to “take a step back” and review the costs and enhancements.
“It’s a legacy project. Whatever we do is going to be here 60 to 70 years,” he said.
That intention, however, doesn’t diminish MDOT’s insistence that the project needs to address the highway’s aging bridges and deteriorating pavement.
Fifty or more people attended the community meeting at Eastern Market, some expressing familiar concerns about an effort that’s been touted as a way to reconnect communities torn apart in the middle of the last century by highway building and urban renewal efforts. That era saw the razing of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, mirroring the displacement of largely Black and immigrant neighborhoods in similar fashion across the country.
Many residents, however, have questioned how the I-375 project would actually be a fix for that damage, and they’d been critical of the process before the pause. The Free Press reported in August that MDOT had cited “rising costs, longevity of the final project and roadway, and public concern over design elements” as reasons for delaying construction.
Jim Jenkins, President and CEO of Jenkins Construction, which has its office on East Jefferson, a short distance from I-375, expressed a familiar skepticism when he stood to ask, “Why are we doing this? What’s the purpose?”
Later, Jenkins told the Free Press that he wants to ensure the traffic flow for the community is acceptable.
“It’s a working road system right now,” he said.
MDOT plans to hold future community meetings for the project in March and June.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. If you’ve got a tip or suggestion, contact him at elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.