Interstate 375 to be transformed into street level boulevard

[Junkin4Life]

[size=6][b]final draft

[birwood]

QUESTION: Where are they going to get the needed dirt to fill in 375 to bring the surface back up to its original grade level and what are they going to do with and to the existing concrete roadway, bridge pilings and abutments?. I'm just curious.

[Gistok]

^^ Well closing all the freeways around downtown would be a great way to suck the lifeforce out of downtown entertainment. Why? Because most suburbanites would not like to drive thru Detroit city streets at night to get to/from downtown, especially stuck in gridlock with traffic for other venues/sports.

Some might not mind taking the main arteries into the city at night. But secondary business streets. Probably not.

But getting back to reality, that elimination of freeways to downtown is just somebody's wish list, and not something the city/sate is thinking... not to mention can afford.

[Honky Tonk]

^^ Well closing all the freeways around downtown would be a great way to suck the lifeforce out of downtown entertainment. Why? Because most suburbanites would not like to drive thru Detroit city streets at night to get to/from downtown, especially stuck in gridlock with traffic for other venues/sports.

Some might not mind taking the main arteries into the city at night. But secondary business streets. Probably not.

But getting back to reality, that elimination of freeways to downtown is just somebody's wish list, and not something the city/sate is thinking... not to mention can afford.

+5...

[oladub]

QUESTION: Where are they going to get the needed dirt to fill in 375 to bring the surface back up to its original grade level and what are they going to do with and to the existing concrete roadway, bridge pilings and abutments?. I'm just curious.

Besides the Balduck Park hill, what happened to all the fill that came out of Detroit's expressways? Dredging the Detroit River or Lake St. Clair could provide a lot of fill.

[royce]

I suggested to MDOT staff at one of the I-375 meetings that the city and state work out a way to build underground parking to fill up the freeway. The state staff member had a problem seeing how that would work out because he said, "The state doesn't do parking structures." So, when this roadway is all said and done, I'm assuming the state will still own it? I also told a city staff member my idea and he just gave me that pat answer, "We'll look into it." I got the impression my idea was something they've never even considered. That just told me that we have a lot of unimaginative people working in the public sector here in Michigan. My apologies to those of you who are.

[dtowncitylover]

But getting back to reality, that elimination of freeways to downtown is just somebody's wish list, and not something the city/sate is thinking... not to mention can afford.

Yeah, while the map gives me an instant b*ner, something like that could only work if it was built in tandem with a massive public transit investment of light and commuter rail lines. Easily $10 billion+.

[Gistok]

Yeah, while the map gives me an instant b*ner, something like that could only work if it was built in tandem with a massive public transit investment of light and commuter rail lines. Easily $10 billion+.

The one part of that map that I found most odd is the closing of the Lodge between I-94 and the Davison. To push all the incoming Lodge traffic over to the east side and increase volume on the Chrysler seems pointless.

[mwilbert]

None of this, except the 375 part, is likely anytime soon, but I think you could also get rid of the Lodge south of the Fisher and it would be a substantial improvement and help Corktown/MCS feel more connected to downtown. And as people have observed recently, Third Avenue is already really wide between the Fisher and Lafayette, so between that and whatever they put in the existing Lodge right-of-way, there shouldn't be much problem with road capacity.

[expatriate]

"The state doesn't do parking structures." Then perhaps they should get into that business. The number of surface parking lots in the downtown area is a travesty and destroyer of a vibrant street scene. No buildings should be demolished for a parking lot unless another building is going on top of it. European cities manage to somehow construct multi-level underground parking under existing old buildings.

[Junkin4Life]

That map above is just a re-imagined version of how the highways �� should look

[Junkin4Life]

As far as the portion of the Lodge from Chicago to Davison that area could be resurfaced as a bike trail.

[Wheels]

So all that talk from Budajunk about racist highways was total BS and you all just don’t like highways?

[Gistok]

So all that talk from Budajunk about racist highways was total BS and you all just don’t like highways?

Sigh... when will some people grow up....

[dtowncitylover]

Sigh... when will some people grow up....

When they start to detox from car brain.

[stasu1213]

"The state doesn't do parking structures." Then perhaps they should get into that business. The number of surface parking lots in the downtown area is a travesty and destroyer of a vibrant street scene. No buildings should be demolished for a parking lot unless another building is going on top of it. European cities manage to somehow construct multi-level underground parking under existing old buildings.

Unlike Europe Detroit just raze historical buildings so that friends or family can get contracts razing them. Shor term personal gains that had and still having long term negative affects

[Jimaz]

So all that talk from Budajunk about racist highways was total BS and you all just don’t like highways?

Sigh... when will some people grow up....

I'm convinced it has less to do with maturity than money.

But don't say "paid shills." The politically correct term is "influencers." The former sounds too much like "ideological whores."

Today we must speak in euphemisms to avoid bruising delicate feelings.

[Wheels]

The thought of a road being rasist is on par with the idea of unlimited genders! The left will destroy this country.

[Gistok]

The thought of a road being rasist is on par with the idea of unlimited genders! The left will destroy this country.

Yes! And the gender/bathroom debacle alone will portend the end of western civilization as we know it!!

[royce]

A second I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project open house will occur on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, from 4-7 pm at Shed #3 in Eastern Market.

[stasu1213]

Yes! And the gender/bathroom debacle alone will portend the end of western civilization as we know it!!

Most businesses have restrooms that just have toilets and sinks only. Only one person at a time could go in them and they are considered unisex

[masterblaster]

Besides the Balduck Park hill, what happened to all the fill that came out of Detroit's expressways? Dredging the Detroit River or Lake St. Clair could provide a lot of fill.

Some of the fill material from the excavation of the Lodge Freeway was used to fill-in the 2nd lake that was in Palmer Park [[Lake Harold) in 1950.

[masterblaster]

^^ Well closing all the freeways around downtown would be a great way to suck the lifeforce out of downtown entertainment. Why? Because most suburbanites would not like to drive thru Detroit city streets at night to get to/from downtown, especially stuck in gridlock with traffic for other venues/sports.

Some might not mind taking the main arteries into the city at night. But secondary business streets. Probably not.

The first and second sentences contradict each other. Suburbanites wouldn't be taking secondary business streets, they would be taking the freeways up until they end just outside the central business district, which would be safe areas.

[Gistok]

The first and second sentences contradict each other. Suburbanites wouldn't be taking secondary business streets, they would be taking the freeways up until they end just outside the central business district, which would be safe areas.

That was in reference to this "odd map" someone posted, which didn't have any freeways coming near downtown. The Lodge ended at the Davison Fwy, and the Chrysler ended at the Ford Fwy, and the Fisher didn't make it farther east than the Jeffries Fwy. No freeways shown going near downtown...

https://www.detroityes.com/mb/attach...8&d=1687309971

[1953]

I must be getting old, because I'm reading this thread and remembering when I would have said some of the things said here about removing freeways, but now I can't help but think that freeways serve a pretty useful purpose and removing them would just inhibit access to the central business district for a lot of people who use the central business district. That said, I still believe there are ways to make the freeway system less intrusive to the community. Instead of removing freeways, I'd like to see more talk about capping them/making tunnels through denser parts of the community, etc. We can wish we had a robust subway all day, but we don't have one, so most people are not planning their travels in and around Detroit with mass transit. And, yeah, yeah, I know buses exist, but the fact that buses are not fixed in line makes me and lots of other people I know very unlikely to ever use them.

1953