I-94 Construction

[expatriate]

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...it/2327423001/

I cannot say that I'm pleased that we will be spending a gazillion dollars to rebuild I-94 to accommodate more traffic when I think that public money should be going to alternative transportation projects. This is an poor investment in an automobile centric way of life that may not have the endless furture that some would like to believe. The volatile world petroleum should continuously remind us of this.

[Ray1936]

You can take my car away only when you pry my cold, dead hands off the steering wheel..........wait......didn't the NRA say something like that?

[Gistok]

Well regardless of how you feel... all the bridges over I-94 have LONG exceeded their expiration date. Woodward, Van Dyke and Gratiot have already had their bridges replaced, with a widened span underneath to allow for 4 lanes of traffic.

DetroitYES is litered with posts about this same discussion, which have already discussed this topic ad nauseum in the past... and however you feel... I-94 is one freeway that you don't want to have your car break down on due to the narrowness of the shoulders.

Also... I-94 is by far the major cross town roadway from the east and west side. In a north/south direction there are over 20 roadways that handle traffic... but in an east/west direction [[besides I-94) there is only Jefferson, Warren/Forest and 7 Mile Rd. within the city limits. Whether or not vehicles are petroleum or electric powered... they do need roadways.

The modernization/widening of I-94 will be spread out over about a dozen years, with a large chunk of it as federal funding.

[313WX]

but in an east/west direction [[besides I-94) there is only Jefferson, Warren/Forest and 7 Mile Rd. within the city limits.

8 Mile should count too, since it straddles the city limits.

Without it [[eight lanes wide), crosstown travel would be even more of a logistic clusterfuck.

[Gistok]

8 Mile should count too, since it straddles the city limits.

Without it [[eight lanes wide), crosstown travel would be even more of a logistic clusterfuck.

Amen to that...

I don't have a problem with widening to 4 lanes... but is the addition of a service drive really necessary? Right now Harper Ave. is pretty much the majority of the service drive for the east side. It's the west side that doesn't have one. That will be an expense that I don't feel is necessary. The city has lost enough residential/retail to freeways of the past. By eliminating the service drive expansion, I think that will cut down on the projects long term cost.

[Jason]

Look through the document to find the maps, the project area already has mostly complete service drives, and they're just doing what they can to complete the service drives where they can. They're skipping or finding alternative solutions for the sensitive areas. It's not very expensive or disruptive and they're a good thing to have.

They're also changing the service drives to improve connectivity based on community input.


For the overall project, aside from the big improvements to safety and efficiency, I think it will be great that Harper will be fully connected all the way to New Center.

[stasu1213]

8 Mile should count too, since it straddles the city limits.

Without it [[eight lanes wide), crosstown travel would be even more of a logistic clusterfuck.

Install bike lane on 8 mile rd that could run from Vernier from the east to Northville to the West

[hybridy]

Here's the draft environmental impact statement in pdf.

[JonWylie]

As long as they follow through with the increased bridges and street grid I don't care what they do with the highway

[Gistok]

Here's the draft environmental impact statement in pdf.

Thanks for the link hybridy...

I have always thought how poorly the "erosion" of the sloping embankments on either side of I-94 looks poorly on the city as a whole. There were always unsightly bare patches along the freeway, which I assume was caused by mowing machines cutting the grass soon after a rain storm [[as well as widening the shoulder and causing steeper sloping). With cement lower walls, it will look much cleaner.

I assume that the new low retaining walls along the side of the expanded I-94 do not cause the tunnel effect that the Lodge Fwy has between Livernois and 8 Mile... which in turn forces trucks carrying flammables to exit the freeway. It looks like all trucks will be able to use that stretch of the freeway.

[hybridy]

I assume that the new low retaining walls along the side of the expanded I-94 do not cause the tunnel effect that the Lodge Fwy has between Livernois and 8 Mile... which in turn forces trucks carrying flammables to exit the freeway. It looks like all trucks will be able to use that stretch of the freeway.

Why does that stretch of M-10 have the NRMH restriction?

[248lurker]

Why does that stretch of M-10 have the NRMH restriction?

I believe it's because the retaining walls are straight up and down and there would be no way for people to evacuate the freeway level in the event of a major explosion that would happen if a truck with hazardous materials were to be involved in a catastrophic accident. There are some fire escape-like stairways that can be activated from the service drive level to get to the freeway level, but not vice versa.

Further, to get the freeway portion to fit within the footprint of the old James Couzens boulevard, I believe the left lane of the northbound service drive is partially over the freeway as exhibited by the fact there is a noticeable overhang above the right shoulder on the northbound side of the freeway in this stretch.

Also, hazardous materials are prohibited on I-696 between I-75 and M-10/US-24 because that stretch has similar straight up and down retaining walls.

[thomprod]

...There are some fire escape-like stairways that can be activated from the service drive level to get to the freeway level, but not vice versa...

I have no source to quote, but as someone who lived on Greenfield near Seven Mile in the middle '60s [[when that section of the Lodge was new), I believe the escape ladders originally had chains to pull them down to the freeway level when needed. I've never seen one actually being used, though, to confirm.

[Wesley Mouch]

I have no source to quote, but as someone who lived on Greenfield near Seven Mile in the middle '60s [[when that section of the Lodge was new), I believe the escape ladders originally had chains to pull them down to the freeway level when needed. I've never seen one actually being used, though, to confirm.

I distinctly remember the chains, and there were signs below as well. Don't recall what they said, but I imagine it was 'don't use except in emergency'.

[248lurker]

I distinctly remember the chains, and there were signs below as well. Don't recall what they said, but I imagine it was 'don't use except in emergency'.

It's hard to notice the chains when driving down the freeway at 55 MPH, but they appear to still be there. However, the one for the emergency ladder at Outer Drive and northbound M-10 looks like it might be broken as of May 2019:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.4208...7i16384!8i8192

The freeway-level sign reads:

EMERGENCY LADDER
PULL CHAIN TO LOWER
LEAVE IN DOWN POSITION

[masterblaster]

Look through the document to find the maps, the project area already has mostly complete service drives, and they're just doing what they can to complete the service drives where they can. They're skipping or finding alternative solutions for the sensitive areas. It's not very expensive or disruptive and they're a good thing to have.

They're also changing the service drives to improve connectivity based on community input.


For the overall project, aside from the big improvements to safety and efficiency, I think it will be great that Harper will be fully connected all the way to New Center.

The Curbed Detroit website stated that the I-94 re-design will eliminate the Third Street Bridge over I-94 that connected Wayne State to the New Center.

[Gistok]

The 3rd Street overpass over I-94 has been closed since 2017...

https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...oit/948017001/

I wonder if MDOT is seeing if traffic can be handled by 2nd Street... before they demolish the 3rd Street bridge, and not replace it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3609...7i16384!8i8192

[Bradley]

What a debacle