Detroit Freeway Removal Plan Awarded Federal Grant

Detroit’s plan to remove a portion of the I-375 freeway received a boost from the federal government with a $104 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, part of a broader federal endeavor to remedy the impacts of freeways and urban renewal on neighborhoods around the country. Notably, the grant was not awarded from the Reconnecting Communities Act, but from USDOT’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program.

According to a Detroit News article by Melissa Nann Burke and Riley Beggin, “The grant is a significant boon for the proposal, which dates to 2013 and envisions a walkable, leafy concourse integrated with the community and lined with shops, restaurants, homes and pedestrians on the eastern of edge of downtown Detroit.”

The effort is expected to cost $300 million and be completed by 2030. “The project, which already has environmental approvals from the Federal Highway Administration, would raise the roadway by 20 feet to street level, integrate it with cross-streets and landscape a boulevard past Jefferson Avenue down to Atwater Street.”

The freeway removal encompasses other projects including traffic calming measures, the removal of fifteen bridges, and new signalized crosswalks and bike lanes.