Ilitch hockey arena plan could include making I-75 a 'tunne;

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Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Redesignate I-696 as the final leg of I-94. Make the Ford Freeway the Ford Parkway. Establish light rail with vigorous crosstown connections. Done, done, and done.

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Ok...That works in Macomb County, but how do you reconnect it on the south end of town?

I've thought for many years that building the arena over I-75 would be an amazing idea.

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Originally Posted by HazenPingree

I've thought for many years that building the arena over I-75 would be an amazing idea.

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Amazingly expensive and pointless.

But given just about every other damned thing done in Detroit--it sounds like it'd be perfect.

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Originally Posted by HazenPingree

I've thought for many years that building the arena over I-75 would be an amazing idea.

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It would also be amazingly expensive... having to cantilever all the footings that hold up the structure away from the freeway itself. I doubt you'll see this happening... too expensive. The arena will be either to the north of I-75, or to the south [[behind the Fox).... very unlikely over the freeway.

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Originally Posted by EL Jimbo

Ok...That works in Macomb County, but how do you reconnect it on the south end of town?

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Redesignate 275, or 39, or something so that the main trunkline freeway doesn't go right through the middle of our DENSEST URBAN AREA. Honestly, these types of roads were never intended to go through a city at all. They should bypass the city. Townless roads and roadless towns, please.

Yes, it would be a cool idea to see the new arena built over I-75, but we need to be thinking about connections in this city. By putting the arena north of the freeway, farther up Woodward, there would be an area in between the Stadia and Foxtown and the new arena to garner new development to expand the entertainment district. People would be forced to move between destinations as opposed to everything being connected. For the sake of walkability, cap the freeways, from Brush to Grand River. Put mixed-use developments on each side of Woodward over the freeway. This would make Woodward completely walkable and connected from the riverfront all the way to the north end of Midtown. A project like this would be great for the city and allow the entertainment district to expand north and into the more desolate areas of the Cass Corridor and Brush Park.

I really like the idea of tunneling the Fisher from Third to Beaubein but this probably wouldn't stretch quite that far, it would be a start to do something like this on Woodward though. I always thought that the new hockey arena should be located on the northwest side of the Fisher and Woodward. A new Wings arena is going to require probably about 15 acres of land. Maybe Detroit could make this area kind of like the area around Nationwide Arena in Columbus.