The End of Detroit... [Plan to widen I-94, I-75]

[Vic01]

Seeing that the freeways have been gettin' so much "hate" around here lately...

Regional group OKs $2.3B plan to widen I-94, I-75

Plans to add lanes to I-94 north of downtown Detroit and I-75

A consortium of southeastern Michigan governments has endorsed a $2.3 billion plan to widen two stretches of Interstates 75 and 94 serving Detroit and its suburbs.
The commission of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments voted 24-7 Friday to proceed with plans to add lanes to I-94 north of downtown Detroit and I-75 in the city's northern suburbs.
Supporters say the work is needed to loosen traffic bottlenecks, while opponents say it would damage neighborhoods through which the highways travel.

Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi tells MLive DOT com the earliest work would begin no sooner than 2016 on I-75 and 2018 on I-94.
I-94 would get extra lanes between Conner and I096, while I-75 would get them from Eight Mile Road to Michigan 59.


http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/r...c/-/index.html

[Bham1982]

Very good news for the region's mobility and economic health.

[jaytheory]

Very good news for the region's mobility and economic health.

You are joking right

[Bham1982]

You are joking right

No, I am obviously serious. Improving a roadway used by hundreds of thousands of daily commuters will have a signficant economic multiplier effect.

[ghettopalmetto]

No, I am obviously serious. Improving a roadway used by hundreds of thousands of daily commuters will have a signficant economic multiplier effect.

Fuck yeah! More gas stations and Waffle Houses!

What do you mean by "signficant", Bham? Got data for us? And stop conflating "improvement" for "widening" [[among other oversimplified misconceptions).

Only in Detroit do people use meaningless bullshit words like "multiplier effect" to justify every stupid brainfart. To me, the word "multiplier" involves numbers. Without numbers, it's just propaganda.

[rb336]

$2.3 billion won't cover it. Maybe one of the two, but not both. Below-grade sections on I-75 alone would cost more once you include land acquisition and bridges. Not including the cost of litigating the inevitable law suits.

[Gistok]

$2.3 billion won't cover it. Maybe one of the two, but not both. Below-grade sections on I-75 alone would cost more once you include land acquisition and bridges. Not including the cost of litigating the inevitable law suits.

Just like they've had to replace all of the I-94 bridges in south Macomb County... these bridges need to be replaced anyway. And taking into account that MDOT is a pro at bridge replacement, I would tend to think that they have at least that portion of the cost estimates down pat. It's the land acquisition that is the big question mark...

[Sehv313]

I-75 would get them from Eight Mile Road to Michigan 59.

That's not in the city at all.

[professorscott]

God knows, our most pressing transportation need in the region is more lane-miles of expressway.

[Honky Tonk]

God knows, our most pressing transportation need in the region is more lane-miles of expressway.

Welcome to Reality-World, Prof......

[Sehv313]

I wonder whats gonna happen to all of this freeway space when we start driving flying hybrids like the Jetsons?

[Honky Tonk]

I wonder whats gonna happen to all of this freeway space when we start driving flying hybrids like the Jetsons?

Rows and rows of coffee shops....

[ghettopalmetto]

This "plan" is patently absurd. It's based on studies that are more than 15 years old. Since then, we've seen a tripling in fuel prices and reductions in vehicle-miles of driving. The only thing that highway widening achieves is long-term increases in congestion, and fattened wallets of highway contractors.

No money for public transit, but billions available for outdated and unnecessary freeway widenings? Bien sur!

Propose renaming MDOT to the Michigan Department of Nostalgia.

[Wesley Mouch]

I'm really gonna miss those left-hand exits and merges.

[Danny]

The those nuts from MDOT want to expand I-94 and I-75 by moving away the low grade mound, put a concrete wall, add 2 new roads and let folks drive through this wall [[ not letting anyone to see the beauty of the Detroit ghettohoods) into the suburbs and out to Detroit. What fools they are.

[deep6six]

This "plan" is patently absurd. It's based on studies that are more than 15 years old. Since then, we've seen a tripling in fuel prices and reductions in vehicle-miles of driving. The only thing that highway widening achieves is long-term increases in congestion, and fattened wallets of highway contractors.

No money for public transit, but billions available for outdated and unnecessary freeway widenings? Bien sur!

Propose renaming MDOT to the Michigan Department of Nostalgia.

Could not agree more. Detroit's reluctance to move into the modern age will be it's undoing. Insane.

There's no way Detroit will ever compete with other modern cities for the brightest talent if we don't have modern shit! A commitment to modern transportation, light rail would be a game changer.

[canuck]

Could not agree more. Detroit's reluctance to move into the modern age will be it's undoing. Insane.

There's no way Detroit will ever compete with other modern cities for the brightest talent if we don't have modern shit! A commitment to modern transportation, light rail would be a game changer.

I would also want to make sure some of the fabrication and assembly jobs are in Michigan since so much needs to be built...

[Wesley Mouch]

I would also want to make sure some of the fabrication and assembly jobs are in Michigan since so much needs to be built...

Warning Will Robinson! Protectionist thinking harms everyone. Danger.

The jobs should be where the taxpayers get the most benefit.

It is NEVER a good idea to specify local procurement. Its always a good idea forindividuals to buy locally. Its always bad for governments.

Danger.

[TKshreve]

Sometimes you have to break an egg to make an omelet.

I-94 on said stretch has been congested for years upon years and remains that way today. You can put all the light rail you'd like up-and-down the east side, but suburbanites and trucking companies will continue to use this artery to get cross-town for any and all purposes. The outdated infrastructure is not only obsolete, but well past it's best-by date.

My only hangup is the 4 year delay on this part of the project.

[ghettopalmetto]

Sometimes you have to break an egg to make an omelet.

I-94 on said stretch has been congested for years upon years and remains that way today. You can put all the light rail you'd like up-and-down the east side, but suburbanites and trucking companies will continue to use this artery to get cross-town for any and all purposes. The outdated infrastructure is not only obsolete, but well past it's best-by date.

My only hangup is the 4 year delay on this part of the project.

The study completed by Corradino Group concluded that widening of I-75 would save A WHOLE MINUTE of travel time in the short term.

Are these Faberge eggs that MDOT is breaking?

Repair the bridges. Reconfigure interchanges where warranted by safety. But damn, is MDOT's expensive one-size-fits-all road-widening strategy even justified here? It doesn't take a genius to see that freeway-widening hasn't exactly "solved" congestion in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Toronto, and the DC area.

Of course, there's always the "trucking" argument, yet you still don't see 18-lane-wide freeways going through New York City, Chicago, Buffalo, or any other manufacturing and shipping hub. Michigan's biggest problem is that it doesn't dare look beyond its own borders to see that its ideas are already tried and tired. This is a case of Idiocy mixed with Nostalgia for the 1950s.

[RO_Resident]

Of course, there's always the "trucking" argument, yet you still don't see 18-lane-wide freeways going through New York City, Chicago, Buffalo, or any other manufacturing and shipping hub. Michigan's biggest problem is that it doesn't dare look beyond its own borders to see that its ideas are already tried and tired. This is a case of Idiocy mixed with Nostalgia for the 1950s.

So the Dan Ryan by US Cellular Field is just a mirage?

[ghettopalmetto]

So the Dan Ryan by US Cellular Field is just a mirage?

The Dan Ryan is up to fourteen lanes wide [[vis-a-vis the eighteen lanes, including service drives, proposed for I-94 through Detroit). If you've driven the Dan Ryan, however, you know damn well that fourteen lanes hasn't "solved" congestion on the South Side, just like the Chrysler Freeway didn't "solve" congestion in Detroit like its planners thought it would. So using that argument to justify the I-94 project is bunk, wouldn't you think?

[jaytheory]

Detroit having traffic like Chicago is a mirage

[jaytheory]

metro Detroit does not ahve Traffic. I dont care how you slice it. rush hour here is cake walk.

Try DC the beltway is jammed almost 24 hours a day. heading into annadale from 395 to the beltway or heading across a bridge into the city is literally like the 14 Mile road stretch on i75 at its worst all the time

people of Michigan. unless you have lived somewhere else you dont know what traffic is

[Brian1979]

Of course, there's always the "trucking" argument, yet you still don't see 18-lane-wide freeways going through New York City, Chicago, Buffalo, or any other manufacturing and shipping hub. Michigan's biggest problem is that it doesn't dare look beyond its own borders to see that its ideas are already tried and tired. This is a case of Idiocy mixed with Nostalgia for the 1950s.

Chicago has the 14 lane Dan Ryan Expressway, I believe that's close enough. Plus the Dan Ryan has the CTA Red Line going right down the middle of it.