Uniting Hart and Spirit Plazas: Bridge or Tunnel?

[royce]

Number one option, Jefferson needs to be buried and reduced in size. A bridge would be second.

The fact that there are multiple posters opposing these ideas [[and encouraging reopening roads) is concerning.

I don't understand the thinking that Jefferson needs to buried underground or its lanes reduced. Yes it has eight lanes, but there is this huge median down the middle of it that essentially reduces it to four lanes. Four lanes are not impossible to cross. And who cares if it takes a few minutes longer to cross Jefferson, take the time to see the beautiful buildings and landscaping. Therefore, building a pedestrian bridge or tunnel to get across Jefferson is absolutely unnecessary.

Campus Martius Park, Cadillac Square Park, and now Spirit Plaza have made Hart Plaza obsolete. If they didn't exist, then more people would use Hart Plaza. I don't think a bridge or tunnel is going to change the current condition of Hart Plaza as long as these other areas exist. If the weekly Ethnic/Riverfront festivals still existed, then Hart Plaza would be well utilized. Until you have planning like that for Hart Plaza, it will continue to be underutilized. As it stands now, there are only two events that require Hart Plaza as a venue, the Electronic Music Festival and the Detroit Jazz Festival.

So the debate really shouldn't be about whether to build a bridge or tunnel to get across Jefferson, the debate should be about answering the following question, "What to do with Hart Plaza?