Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Detroit | Ken Coleman photo
A group of nearly 500 people has asked the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to halt its controversial I-375 Reconnecting Communities project.
In a May letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan issued this month, the ReThink I-375 Coalition expressed “grave concern in the manner in which the project.” The effort would essentially convert the freeway, much of which is underground, into a street-level six-lane boulevard.
“We are opposed to the current project as presented by MDOT and the city of Detroit,” the letter reads in part. “We urge you to insist that MDOT’s work immediately halt so that a more legitimate process can be developed.”
The letter was signed by area businesses and nonprofits, as well as area residents. Most of them are Detroiters, but signees who reside in other Southeast Michigan cities such as Livonia, Harper Woods, Ann Arbor, Monroe and Plymouth, also signed the letter.
For several years, plans have been underway to demolish Detroit’s I-375 freeway and replace it with a new roadway in an effort to reverse the destruction it brought to the historically Black neighborhoods Paradise Valley and Black Bottom. MDOT efforts have included meetings with the community affected, which has residents on Detroit’s lower east side, a stone’s throw from downtown Detroit.
The Black Bottom and Paradise Valley communities were seized by the city government in the early 1950s in the name of urban renewal and African Americans — many of whom were renters — were displaced. Detroit is 77% African American today.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and others gather to formally dedicate the Black Bottom Michigan Historical marker on Aug. 9, 2021 | Ken Coleman
“The citizens impacted by the project area deserve a real plan to connect with former Black Bottom residents and business owners,” the ReThink I-375 Coalition letter reads. “MDOT has claimed that this project will reconnect the community and address past wrongs relating to the original freeway, yet no meaningful action has been taken.
“We urge that plans be developed to protect the small businesses and employers in Greektown and Eastern Market, the jobs of Detroiters, and the variety of products brought to market by farmers and flower growers from across the state.”
Last year, Detroit Future City, a nonprofit, called for a “major restorative process” where Black Detroiters have a larger voice in the process.
In a report titled, “A Call for Restorative Investment in Black Bottom Paradise Valley,” the group’s recommendations included capitalizing on opportunities to increase homeownership among Black Detroiters, prioritizing residents who were displaced by urban renewal and their descendants, supporting home repair for existing residents, ensuring Black developers are at the forefront of development opportunities, and developing a district focused on Black-owned businesses.
MDOT issued a statement noting that it held more than 50 engagement sessions to collect input from the community in the last year, including its local advisory committee (LAC), government advisory committee, public meetings and stakeholder groups. The department said the most recent LAC meeting was May 1 and there’s a public meeting in June.
“The revisions we’ve made to the road design are directly related to the valuable feedback we received. When the public said they were concerned with the safety of a 9-lane boulevard, we listened, collected and reviewed new traffic counts, and modified the size of the road,” the statement said.
Officials look to ‘fill in the ditch’ that helped displace Black Detroiters with $105M project
“We’re still listening, and are working closely with the Federal Highway Administration, the community, the city of Detroit as they lead the neighborhood framework plan, Downtown Detroit Partnership as they collaborate on peer review and construction mitigation strategy, and Kresge Foundation as they host the reparative roundtable,” the MDOT continues. “We look forward to continued engagement and working toward a design that serves the needs of Detroiters.”
During a September 2022 visit to the I-375 site, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said “wealth that needs to be created will be created” as he helped to outline plans to reimage a federal highway that displaced a historic Black community during the 1950s and 1960s.
“We know that some of the planners and politicians behind the decisions in the past to build roads like this one and others to build roads through the heart of vibrant, populated communities, sometimes in an effort to reinforce segregation, sometimes people who lived there did not have the power to resist and reinforce change,” Buttigieg said at the time.
Ahead of Buttigieg’s visit, U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation would grant MDOT $104.6 million to reconnect the neighborhoods destroyed by I-375 in Detroit.
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