Potential of the Fort St. Corridor w/ DRIC

Presently the Fort. St. Corridor from Trumbull to Springwells is a ghost town. There is absolutely nothing on Fort St save for the Emergency Center, Produce Terminal, Bridgewater Interiors, and a few greasy spoons. From reading comments quite a few of you are more knowledgeable about urban planning and development than me so I wanted to see what the potential is for this area. This whole area is sad and has been sad for decades. Will the DRIC be the sole development while the rest of the area remains in shambles? What are the possibilities for development of Fort St with the building of DRIC? I also have the same questions about West Jefferson/Delray.

Probably. Bridges don't really spawn urban renewal.

I guess so, but if that bridge dosen't turn into a freeway numbered M-401 that ends at I-96 near Grand River and Livernois...

Motz's is still there.

I don't see the bridge doing much to revitalize area business, as it will bypass Fort St. to dump directly onto 1-75. The Ambassador didn't turn its area of the city into a vital, thriving hot spot... and it was there before I-75, I-96 and Moron.

I don't think the bridge will spur any economic activity on Jefferson or Fort St. The Ambassador Bridge hasn't influenced any redevelopment or urban renewal in it's location, so why would the new bridge?

It seems quite logical that a bridge or border crossing would create some ground retail development. There's a ton of shopping in Laredo, Texas, just across the border from Mexico, albeit it is of the strip mall variety. It's amazing that no one in Detroit has managed to capture those Canadian dollars and keep them in Detroit before they get to the suburbs, but then again Detroit is not known for private development.

You're not going to like this answer.

Should there be better connections based upon highway use, you will get a lot of highway land uses popping up. These include gas stations, fast food joints, or transient retail that will focus on things that consumers can get cheaper by crossing the border [[these items will change as the economy changes).

There is little you can do to stop this through the planning process. This will need to be stopped with the political process and politicos will not stop it. It will be seen as economic development and land owners will howl until they get what they want approved cuz 'its thar land, and they ain't gunna let no commie planner tell em what or what they cannot do'.

The former DRIC [[Now NIBC) project wipes out the area that you are referring to, from approx. Waterman to Clark Street [[east and west) and from Fort Street/I-75 all the way down to the river at Jefferson [[north and south). Additionally, there will be several other areas that will be incorporated over time, but for the most part, it eliminates all of the residual residential [[approx. 324 dwellings and families) and a majority ofthe once vibrant Fort Street/Jefferson Ave. business district.

This project virtually eliminates all of Delray as we once knew it. Considering the amountof pollution, blight and apathy the area has had to endure over the last few years, this would be a good move to improve an already bad situation, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by PlymouthRes

The former DRIC [[Now NIBC) project wipes out the area that you are referring to, from approx. Waterman to Clark Street [[east and west) and from Fort Street/I-75 all the way down to the river at Jefferson [[north and south). Additionally, there will be several other areas that will be incorporated over time, but for the most part, it eliminates all of the residual residential [[approx. 324 dwellings and families) and a majority ofthe once vibrant Fort Street/Jefferson Ave. business district.

This project virtually eliminates all of Delray as we once knew it. Considering the amountof pollution, blight and apathy the area has had to endure over the last few years, this would be a good move to improve an already bad situation, in my opinion.

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Hope that dosen't happen, but if it does, what else would it impact if the road that would use that bridge was extended past I-75, became a freeway similar to the ones throughout the rest of the city and ended at I-96 and Livernois and numbered M-401?

Mtburb-
While I can see what it is you are driving at, I can’timagine a reason that MDOT would extend the access ramp [[or expressway) thatfar away from the bridge. The ramifications of what you are suggesting would befar reaching beyond the 324 dwellings and families that I originally quoted.Large swaths of neighborhoods would be eliminated as well.
A better alternative would be to tie-in the access fromI-96, I-75 and I-94 at the foot of the access ramp that would start atFort/I-75 and go south from there. The problem then is how do you keep accessto the Fort available if you turn the entire area into, what essentially, turnsinto a huge access ramp?
DOT has a pretty viable plan for access to theFort, but that plan wipes the area devoid of any human population.

I don't really understand why redeveloping Fort St. should be a high priority for the city. It's completely isolated from the surrounding neighborhoods, with an expressway ditch to the north and a train track lined with industrial buildings to the south, and right now it serves as a sort of industrial corridor and truck route, which isn't very attractive to look at but isn't disproportionately problematic or in need of attention relative to other parts of the city. It seems to me that if you've got limited resources and you're looking to stabilize a Detroit neighborhood, there are much better places to direct your energy.

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Originally Posted by maverick1

Presently the Fort. St. Corridor from Trumbull to Springwells is a ghost town. There is absolutely nothing on Fort St save for the Emergency Center, Produce Terminal, Bridgewater Interiors, and a few greasy spoons. From reading comments quite a few of you are more knowledgeable about urban planning and development than me so I wanted to see what the potential is for this area. This whole area is sad and has been sad for decades. Will the DRIC be the sole development while the rest of the area remains in shambles? What are the possibilities for development of Fort St with the building of DRIC? I also have the same questions about West Jefferson/Delray.

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There are also quite a few "independent businesswomen" in that area. Usually standing on the corners.

Having driven to Wyandotte lately, taking Fort to Clark to
Jefferson, it is a depressing site, but it is and was industrial.
The only thing I would like to see is a restoration of Fort
Wayne into a historical park and museum. The newly renovated buildings, like the Hudson Warehouse, give an impressive view of the river and Canada, but can't see what other development would do to improve the way it looks. Because it was all industrial, the clean up to make way for new development would be extremely expensive and i just don't see it happening. The Delray area is awful, has been
ever since the loss of Joey's Stables and Al's Restaurant. At least a new bridge area would remove the blight and offer new concrete to look at and possibly some new greenery.

Fort Street's commercial corridor was doomed from the moment the first shovel went into the ground to dig the Fisher trench less than a block to the north.

If Detroit would get their act together, they should designate everything from the Ambassador Bridge west to the Rouge River and from Fort-75 south to the River as an industrial development zone. Between the seaport and various docks along both rivers and the active but underutilized railroad parallel to the river going east from Delray Tower, a significant potential for a variety of types of industrial growth exist....at least from an infrastructure and transportation network standpoint. Large tracts of under- or unutilized-land have access to road, rail and/or river, which are amenities highly sought after in other places.