I-375 Improvement

With I-375’s bridges nearing the end of their lifespan, MDOT went going through a formal planning process to determine whether it should be rebuilt as a below-grade freeway or an at-grade urban boulevard. The latter was the preferred alternative.

We’re on MDOT’s Local Advisory Committee to ensure that I-375’s repalacement is an improvement for those walking and biking. This project can improve non-motorized access across the former freeway and improve connections between the Riverfront, Downtown, Brush Park and Eastern Market.

The initial design wasn’t the best. It looked like another Telegraph Road with many travel lanes and bloated intersections. It was designed to handle vehicle traffic during rush hour pre-COVID.

As we know, COVID led to a major reduction in commuter traffic. MDOT found that rush hour traffic was reduced by 20% to 40%. With these lower numbers, MDOT redesigned the replacement boulevard and reduced the width of the roadway and intersections. They also included many of the suggestions we’d submitted for improving biking and walking. The boulevard now looks more like Mack Avenue with a two-way cycletrack. These changes were presented at the June 2024 public meeting.

What’s Good

  • The cycletrack and sidewalks along the new Montcalm will connect Ford Field/Downtown to Eastern Market. This might be the biggest bike/walk benefit for the project. It’ll be a more direct route compared with the popular Wilkins connection between Brush Park and Eastern Market.
  • The cycletrack from Atwater to Montcalm provides new connections and looks more like a greenway. (The Hastings Greenway?) We expect it would eventually connect with the RiverWalk.
  • The Fisher Freeway stub (just south of Eastern Market) will be removed and the horrific Fisher/Gratiot/W. Vernor intersection will be improved. MDOT is coordinating their design work with the Gratiot Avenue PEL Study as well.

Room for Improvement

  • There should be a better connection between the new boulevard and Brush Park for bicyclists and pedestrians. The currently proposed I-75 and boulevard interchange is more of a suburban design. This was echoed in the I-375 peer review led by the DDP and funded by the Kresge Foundation. We want a more urban interchange that extends the boulevard cycletrack into Brush Park.
  • The most recent design restores more of an urban street grid adjacent to the southwest corner of Eastern Market. However, none of these streets have bicycle infrastructure. We would welcome a direct connection from the boulevard cycletrack into Eastern Market, which would be very help during the market’s busy times.
  • We’d like to see a boulevard cycletrack underpass at Gratiot that reduces delays and conflicts for bicyclists and pedestrians. Admittedly, this is a big vision item that could create iconic non-motorized infrastructure will the added opportunity to add underpass murals/art that celebrate the history of Hastings Street.
MDOT Public Meeting, June 2024

City-led Framework

In parallel to the transportation work, the City of Detroit’s Planning and Development Department is creating a Zoning and Land-Use Framework for the project area.

The purpose of the supplementary Zoning and Land-Use Framework is to ensure that economic and quality of life improvements occur within the I-375 project area to support the connected urban fabric, guide future growth and development as a truly reconnected community and be responsive to the city of Detroit zoning ordinances and legislative approvals process.  The City envisions a Detroit built on inclusionary growth, economic opportunity, trust, and a process that results in the creation of a cohesive policy guiding the vision for the City of Detroit, the reconnecting communities project, and residents within and surrounding the I-375 Reconnecting Communities project area. The study will be action-oriented and will result in a structure for sustainable equitable land-use, inclusive of its current and future residents, and setting the policy direction to support future growth an opportunity created by the MDOT project. 

City of Detroit I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project webpage

Old I-375 ERFA Project

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, MDOT developed plans to extend I-375 to Atwater. Those plans were never realized.

The I-375 study seeks to improve access to I-375 from the Detroit East River Front Area (ERFA), including Jefferson Avenue. The project is intended to facilitate new developments in downtown Detroit while maintaining an acceptable level of accessibility and mobility. Study objectives include, but are not limited to, modifications to I-375 to address the operation and safety of the I-375/Jefferson Avenue intersection; provision of pedestrian-friendly access along Jefferson Avenue and coordination and interface of roadway access improvements with other outside transportation influences, such as the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project, Lansing to Detroit Rail Study and Detroit Department of Transportation’s ERFA transit study.

SEMCOG 2025 Regional Transportation Plan, June 2000

This study was completed in Fiscal Year 2001. In January of 2003, Governor Jennifer Granholm deferred $68 million MDOT had programmed for this project.

Additional Reading