'Bold, new, and more democratic' vision unveiled for East Riverfront

[Gsgeorge]

If someone really wants to connect people to the river, make the "Campau Connector" a real street with car, bike, and pedestrian access. It would eliminate the superblock that currently exists. It could start at Macomb Street and be a one-way heading south to Jefferson.

Oh, and while we're talking about improving Jefferson and the riverfront, let's get rid of Larned Street altogether, from Rivard to Mt. Elliot, and use it as an alley an parking lots for buildingw along Jefferson, freeing up surface parking lots that could be developed for mixed-use developments.

Not sure I agree with removing Larned street, but certainly making it more accessible/narrower would be nice.

Those near-east side superblocks have really stifled that part of town. It's so bland and desolate over there. I'm really hoping the city has plans to remove this district and restore the street grid that existed in that area before Elmwood Park was developed. It's a huge area, I'm surprised it ever happened in the first place. But replacing the city with apartments did nothing to improve that area. It would be much better served with through-streets, corner stores/markets/commercial buildings mixed in. While I welcome the Campau Greenway, I agree with royce that it would be much better as an actual through-street.

[casscorridor]

Not sure I agree with removing Larned street, but certainly making it more accessible/narrower would be nice.

Those near-east side superblocks have really stifled that part of town. It's so bland and desolate over there. I'm really hoping the city has plans to remove this district and restore the street grid that existed in that area before Elmwood Park was developed. It's a huge area, I'm surprised it ever happened in the first place. But replacing the city with apartments did nothing to improve that area. It would be much better served with through-streets, corner stores/markets/commercial buildings mixed in. While I welcome the Campau Greenway, I agree with royce that it would be much better as an actual through-street.

I would say it's one of the better areas of the city, positioned very close to Downtown. Improvements to the area can be made through remaking public spaces and pedestrian and bike paths, along with infill development to increase density. The "superblocks" don't really matter. Uninterrupted grids benefit mostly benefit cars. "Campau Greenway" doesn't need auto traffic. There's an over-abundance of "through streets" in Detroit. Cars can go the long way; prioritize pedestrians, bikes and public transport.

[Junjie]

I would say it's one of the better areas of the city, positioned very close to Downtown. Improvements to the area can be made through remaking public spaces and pedestrian and bike paths, along with infill development to increase density. The "superblocks" don't really matter. Uninterrupted grids benefit mostly benefit cars. "Campau Greenway" doesn't need auto traffic. There's an over-abundance of "through streets" in Detroit. Cars can go the long way; prioritize pedestrians, bikes and public transport.

Strongly disagree - there's a severe lack of through streets in this part of Detroit, and forcing cars into only a few routes creates large, ugly, highway-roads like Jefferson that are hard to cross and use for pedestrians and cyclists. Uninterrupted grids also benefit pedestrians, transit users, and cyclists by putting the largest amount of places within the shortest distance. See the first image in this post - blue is the area a pedestrian can reach in about 5 mins [[1km walk). There are good reasons why many cities are actively breaking up superblocks from the 60s and 70s to recreate pedestrian-scale street grids.

You can see some visualizations of the extreme difference between the original street grid on the east side of downtown and the failed superblock grid we have today in this document.