The ReThink I-375 Community Coalition is asking MDOT for vision and accountability with its I-375 Chrysler Freeway project. This $300 million investment of federal and local funds will transform a key Detroit neighborhood — and a major transit gateway to the city for decades to come. And yet, those of us who will be most affected still want to know: What’s the master plan here?
Hundreds of residents, small business owners and local leaders in the I-375 area have joined together to form the ReThink I-375 Community Coalition to draw attention to MDOT’s slow-moving catastrophe that — for now — is still preventable.
MDOT is conducting the I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project to redesign the I-75/I-375 interchange, replacing both the Gratiot Connector and I-375 with surface-level roads. It would impact the Eastern Market, Greektown, Downtown, Riverfront, Brush Park, Lafayette Park and Elmwood Park neighborhoods, as well as the entire Lower Eastside’s access to downtown and, via I-75, the region. The results, set in concrete, will last three years or more to build and influence the future of Detroit for generations.
More: Detroit’s I-375 redesign should be about flow, connecting neighborhoods and synergy
After years of community dissatisfaction with the details of the plan, MDOT has made some changes, but it still seems to us that it is just a tangle of roads in search of a purpose.
That’s not a good way to do something good for the people of Detroit.
The ReThink coalition is asking MDOT to seize the opportunity to create a project that shows the nation what we know to be true: that Detroit is not afraid of hard conversations about the impact of racist policies like Urban Renewal of the 1950s and 1960s; that Detroit is a place that innovates and takes risks; that Detroiters ride bikes, scooters, buses, and our own walking feet; that Detroiters can plan creatively for new public spaces. Without vision, this project can achieve none of that.
The total cost is $300 million, of which $104.6 million comes from a federal grant. MDOT claims that there can be no extensions of the federal funding that makes the highway project possible and that they must begin in phases, but they have never asked the federal government for more time. If MDOT insists on starting in 2025, it must work with the city to complete and share the vision of the framework plan by the end of 2024. Anything less means that the road designs the community, not the other way around.
Concerns including the lack of a serious approach to restorative justice, poor urban design, limited walkability, and building restrictions were first raised in January 2021 and captured in the March 2022 federal document that authorized MDOT’s project to proceed. Those concerns remain unaddressed.
More opinions: Who is the design of I-375 in downtown Detroit actually intended for?
The recent reduction in the number of lanes planned for the new boulevard was hard-won. Community members pushed for the change in 2023. Only after an angry, standing-room-only city hall meeting in November led by Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, did MDOT approve a new traffic study to replace the outdated, pre-pandemic one. The result: the project was changed from nine lanes to six.
The National Highway Act of 1956 gave the city the funds to begin an urban renewal project in earnest, replacing Black Bottom and Paradise Valley with the Chrysler Freeway. We don’t want today’s federal money to repeat the mistakes of the past. We need a transparent master plan for what will be built on the site of I-375 that recognizes historic communities and builds today’s neighborhoods and businesses. You can’t design while you build. We want MDOT to plan, communicate, and then act.
As recently as the June 25 public meeting, MDOT insisted that construction must begin in just 18 months, so how exactly will serious community concerns be addressed in later phases? Time is running out. The ReThink I-375 Community Coalition has published 11 points that MDOT must adopt to improve this process and restore the trust that MDOT has undermined by moving forward despite repeated requests to stop, listen, and respond.
If you agree, please sign the petition at rethinki375.org and tell your elected leaders that it is in Detroit’s best interest to reconsider I-375.
Carl Bentley, Bryan Boyer, Bernadette Doré, Trish Hubbell, J. Gregory Love, Melanie Markowicz, Kimle Nailer, Olga Stella and Christian Unverzagt
The authors are members of the ReThink I-375 Community Coalition and residents of the affected neighborhoods
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit’s I-375 overhaul can’t repeat past mistakes
