MDOT reduces lanes on I-375 boulevard plans after community feedback

**Airforceguy** · June-06-25, 06:25 AM

The Michigan Department of Transportation’s plans to fill in the milelong sunken Interstate 375 highway in downtown Detroit and replace it with a street-level road now call for a four-lane boulevard with two lanes in each direction, a reduction from the six-lane boulevard previously planned.

The updated I-375 plans were shared at a community engagement meeting Thursday evening in The Eastern, an event space in Detroit’s Eastern Market. MDOT also shared details about the construction process, which will begin in late summer and run through 2029, starting at the southern end of the corridor and working north. The planned four-lane boulevard will run from Jefferson Avenue to I-75 and have extra turn lanes at intersections. The reduction in lanes was based on public feedback, according to MDOT representative Rob Morosi, who said a six-lane boulevard would have been “a little too much to cross for pedestrians.”

The changes come after a traffic study that left MDOT “confident that two lanes will be able to handle” the volume of traffic traveling the corridor, according to Morosi.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/transp...unity-feedback

**Rocket** · June-06-25, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

....... replace it with a street-level road.......... four-lane boulevard with two lanes in each direction, a reduction from the six-lane boulevard previously planned.

I wonder if they've thought this through?

Certainly the community hasn't.

One of the many things to consider is that a reduction in speed also causes congestion. [ I.E. if cars travel at 1/2 the speed, they will be on the road 2x as long, and the gaps between the cars will be just under 1/2 the size. [Because obviously the cars don't magically get shorter]].

And going from a 3 lane freeway to a 2 lane highway is more than just adding 50% additional cars to each lane.

Reducing the speed from 70 [effectively] to 45 [effectively] means yet another 35.5% more cars in each lane. [So now we're up to 2.05 x the current traffic density.]

THEN, if there's any intersections or traffic lights, that means cutting that average speed down even further, to perhaps 30 mph. So you'd have essentially 2.35 x as many cars per lane as what we have now.

And if you add any attractions to that corridor, you'd be hoping to see increased traffic flow from what we have now, not reduced. Add 10% more traffic from the current levels and you end up at 2.6 times as many cars in each lane as we see currently.

Is I-375 really that empty these days? I.E. if we reduced it from 3 lanes to 1 lane, would everything be totally fine?

That might be a good experiment to try. Reduce it to 1 lane for 2 months and see what the community thinks.

"...MDOT “confident that two lanes will be able to handle” the volume of traffic traveling the corridor, according to Morosi."

Remember the name Morosi in 10 years.

**Satiricalivory** · June-06-25, 12:01 PM

This is great news.

**djtomt** · June-06-25, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by Rocket

That might be a good experiment to try. Reduce it to 1 lane for 2 months and see what the community thinks.

This is a damn good idea. Definitely would shed some light on things.

**Gistok** · June-06-25, 03:31 PM

I've said this before... all you have to do is drive to Port Huron via I-94... and where the freeway ends... where it splits 2 way... 1) crossing the Bluewater Bridge into Canada, and mostly 2) M-25 going northward thru the north end of Port Huron as a 4 lane boulevard. That 4 lane boulevard is a mess... traffic congestion all the time, with summer traffic a real bottleneck.

Except downtown it will more of a nightmare... especially during sports days.

**royce** · June-07-25, 10:11 PM

So, what becomes of the two deleted lanes? Are they added to the median or do they become parking lanes?

**Satiricalivory** · June-09-25, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by royce

So, what becomes of the two deleted lanes? Are they added to the median or do they become parking lanes?

They become developable land.

**Gistok** · June-09-25, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by royce

So, what becomes of the two deleted lanes? Are they added to the median or do they become parking lanes?

Parking for underutilized storefronts...

**Meddle** · June-09-25, 05:37 PM

Retained by the state to be paved in a few years when the realize their mistake.

Hopefully, they'll be smart enough to do the underlying support base work, so all they'd have to do is pave.

**ABetterDetroit** · June-09-25, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Parking for underutilized storefronts...

Fair point. How necessary are the newly created lots on this boulevard? It’s not like there is any kind of shortage of vacant/available road frontage in Detroit…

**royce** · June-10-25, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

Fair point. How necessary are the newly created lots on this boulevard? It’s not like there is any kind of shortage of vacant/available road frontage in Detroit…

ABetterDetroit, what's the alternative to the "newly created lots?" The thought is that the land will be developed at some point. The vacant land is in downtown. Seems like a good place to build apartments/condos with ground floor retail.

**Satiricalivory** · June-10-25, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Retained by the state to be paved in a few years when the realize their mistake.

Hopefully, they'll be smart enough to do the underlying support base work, so all they'd have to do is pave.

Not sure why some of you are so convinced this is somehow bad and wanting an over 6 lane boulevard when it barely gets any traffic, it's already redundant and doesn't lead anywhere but a dead end for the most part. Autocentrism has really rot some of your brains. No wonder US cities were so gutted by highways. Thankfully you guys were ruled out here.

**Satiricalivory** · June-10-25, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Rocket

Is I-375 really that empty these days? I.E. if we reduced it from 3 lanes to 1 lane, would everything be totally fine?

That might be a good experiment to try. Reduce it to 1 lane for 2 months and see what the community thinks.

You can see that right now on google maps actually. Basically no traffic. lol

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

**canuck** · June-11-25, 12:08 PM

Lol, indeed. Good one, satiricalivory!

**Gistok** · June-11-25, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

You can see that right now on google maps actually. Basically no traffic. lol

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

When was that Google maps taken? At 7AM on a Sunday morning?

If you use that as an indication you can make all of I-75 Chrysler Fwy. to 2 lanes in each direction! Image taken at the same time farther up I-75 near Warren Ave... there's hardly anyone there!!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

**Satiricalivory** · June-11-25, 11:52 PM

Uh that street-view shows obviously a lot more traffic, 375 is basically dead.

Doesn't matter anyway. This stretch of highway is considered one of the most useless in the country for a reason. It's lack of utility is well documented. We don't need some convoluted experiment just to prove it another time to car obsessed folks with hard heads.

**Danny** · June-12-25, 07:30 AM

Get ready for operation: Restore Black Bottom

**royce** · June-12-25, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

When was that Google maps taken? At 7AM on a Sunday morning?

If you use that as an indication you can make all of I-75 Chrysler Fwy. to 2 lanes in each direction! Image taken at the same time farther up I-75 near Warren Ave... there's hardly anyone there!!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

Gistok, that is an image of I-75, not I-375. The freeway south of Gratiot is going to be the first converted into a boulevard with the reduced lanes. That area carries traffic that often looks like the first Google Maps image posted by Satiricalivory.
I'm sure that the new boulevard north of Gratiot will have four or more lanes as originally planned. Go to MDOT's website and find the I 375 Reconnecting Communities Project and they have maps showing the reduced lanes only affecting the boulevard south of Gratiot.

**Gistok** · June-12-25, 07:36 PM

^I know where that was... I was just making a point that the mapping was taken at a time when there was no traffic anywhere.

**rbdetsport** · June-12-25, 09:20 PM

The stream of autocentric thought in this thread is the exact reason why the City of Detroit will never become a desirable major city in the US context again. Ass-backwards thinking.

This is one of the best infrastructure projects that the State of Michigan has chosen to pursue in decades, and y’all are complaining about it. I am a transportation engineer and planner—it is horrifying how y’all are questioning whether they thought this through.. of course they thought it through, models were done and models were verified. There is a reason they went back and reran the models with post-Covid traffic.

Detroit thrived during the days prior to freeways. It can again. Both I-375 and the Lodge are unnecessary and should have never been built.

**Meddle** · June-13-25, 03:01 AM

Originally Posted by rbdetsport

the Lodge are unnecessary and should have never been built.

Dude, what?

Why do we question 'planners'.

I am a transportation engineer and planner—

Because of nonsense thoughts like the Lodge wasn't necessary.

There is no way in the world I'd support throwing money away redoing 375. Complete waste of funds and resources. Whether or not it should have been put there is a different question. It's there. Leave it.

**mwilbert** · June-13-25, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Dude, what?

Why do we question 'planners'.

Because of nonsense thoughts like the Lodge wasn't necessary.

There is no way in the world I'd support throwing money away redoing 375. Complete waste of funds and resources. Whether or not it should have been put there is a different question. It's there. Leave it.

The whole reason this was being considered at all is that it's reached its end of life and they had to rebuild it anyway. Leaving it alone was not possible. One of the options considered was to rebuild it more or less as it was, but that option was rejected in favor of the boulevard.

**rbdetsport** · June-14-25, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

Dude, what?

Why do we question 'planners'.

Because of nonsense thoughts like the Lodge wasn't necessary.

There is no way in the world I'd support throwing money away redoing 375. Complete waste of funds and resources. Whether or not it should have been put there is a different question. It's there. Leave it.

HA! You’re living in ignorance. Please, do us all a favor and explain to us why the Lodge was ever necessary. And do us all a favor and tell us why it is necessary now, or why I-375 should be rebuilt as is, instead of as newly proposed?

I also think it is important to note that we have an overbuilt network of streets, including both freeways and streets. They were overbuilt even when the city was nearly quadruple the size at 2 million people. With the smartphone and navigation technology of today, this assessment is even more accurate.

**Meddle** · June-15-25, 03:19 AM

"Please, do us all a favor and explain to us why the Lodge was ever necessary."

If you lived on the northwest side and worked downtown, you wouldn't ask that question. I can't even begin to estimate my numbers of hours and miles on it. No way Grand River would have handled it.

**Zacha341** · June-15-25, 06:29 AM

^Yep. The Lodge takes you up [north] thru the middle of the city.

East side of Detroit on one side, west on the other. Stay on the Lodge on thru Northwestern and you've accessed Farmington Hills on to West Bloomfield, MI.

Grand River would not work as well as it is more west oriented.