I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project Needs New Leadership & Better Ideas

Sign the Letter and Give Your Opinion on I-375 Guiding Principles

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has plans to reconfigure the I-75/I-375 interchange and make I-375 a surface freeway. They have received federal approval to do so. You can find all of the information regarding the project, the environmental assessment and MDOT’s plans here. 

Many residents, small business owners, and community organizations have concerns about this project that MDOT has not addressed. We are organizing as the ReThink I-375 Coalition. You can learn more about our concerns below.

We invite residents, businesses, community organizations and individuals who are concerned or affected to sign an open letter to Mayor Duggan and Governor Whitmer demanding that the process and outcomes be improved.

Values and Principles for I-375 Vision and Design: The ReThink I-375 Community Coalition is also working on a set of values to propose to MDOT and the City of Detroit to guide all future work related to MDOT's I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project.  Please share your opinions in the survey. 

Read the Letter to Mayor Duggan and Governor Whitmer expressing our concerns and asking for their intervention.

If you are not ready to sign the letter, but want to learn more about the community effort, please share your contact information here. You will be added to our mailing list where project updates and upcoming community meetings are shared. 

Community Coalition Seeks Commitments for I-375 Project

The ReThink I-375 Coalition calls on Governor Whitmer, Mayor Duggan, and MDOT to adopt the following eleven points to reboot the I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project in order to ensure beneficial outcomes from design and construction.

Stop Designing the Road Until the Framework Plan is Complete

1. Retract Progressive Design-Build RFP and do not re-issue until after completion of the Framework Plan and associated updates to 30% engineering package are completed so that the zoning, land use and other components called for in the Environmental Assessment can be included. When the RFP is reissued, it should:

  • Demonstrate that it specifically calls for expertise in community engagement, community benefits, design for non-motorized use, and high-quality urban design.    

  • Demonstrate that the scoring criteria for RFP respondents specifically include community engagement, restorative justice, design for non-motorized use, and high-quality urban design as individual points to be rated.

  • Demonstrate via a clause in the contract for the Progressive Design Build contractor that they will be required to seek and be accountable to community input and concerns.

2. Ask for and secure an extension to any funding source that may pose time constraints. If there are barriers to these extensions, act with urgency to complete the land use framework so that it may substantially impact the final road design.

3. Commit to using Detroit’s Streets for People Plan as the guiding standards for the design, including lane width, turn radii, target speed, and other technical aspects that impact pedestrian safety. Revise work already done to reflect this commitment.

Develop an Inspiring Vision and Clear Principles to Guide the Framework Plan and the Road Design

5. Publish a detailed and comprehensible timeline for all design and urban planning work that clearly shows the interplay of the land use framework development, zoning and land disposition, road design, and the community enhancements plan. Identify significant milestones, with corresponding timeframes, for the design process leading to construction. (Prior timelines and milestones have been too high-level and vague to be useful.)

6. Articulate, in detail, the community concerns already shared to date and a process for addressing each of them. Share with the public in a straightforward manner. These concerns extend beyond current requests for design changes to include environmental and restorative justice, construction mitigation, and other issues clearly articulated, but not addressed, in the Environmental Assessment. Update this list on a quarterly basis. 

7. Clarify responsibilities and scopes of work of project contributors (MDOT and their consultants, City of Detroit and their consultants, DDP and their consultants, Kresge) through a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix or similar tool.

8. Agree to start construction only once adequate funding has been secured, not only for the road project and potential cost overages, but also for the community enhancement plan. Through the project development, publicly share all identified funding sources for the project, as well as any gaps in funding. 

9. Commit to construction mitigation strategies that will offset business losses, based on the economic impact study to be conducted by Downtown Detroit Partnership, as well as community concerns relating to transit access, emergency vehicle routes and other accessibility concerns. Mitigation strategies should consider financial compensation to businesses and infrastructure investments that will ease community mobility during construction. 

Stop “Box Checking” Community Engagement and Show How Feedback is Acted Upon

10. Define, in advance, the opportunities for meaningful community input through the Local Advisory Committee and wider public engagement between now and the start of construction. Include date and focus area of each opportunity and show how these opportunities align with the project schedule so that feedback reasonably contributes to the project.


11. Expand the proposed Executive Board for the project to include seven seats total. of which four are community members elected by the community. Specifically, at least one member of the board would be a Black Bottom descendant, one a local resident, one a local small business owner, and one a local large business owner.

Why should you be concerned about I-375? 

MDOT has done nothing to contact and proactively involve individuals who have a connection to Black Bottom.

This project is an example of “social justice washing” and that’s an insult in Detroit. Doubly so, because the Black Bottom community that used to reside here was destroyed by careless freeway planning in the 1950s, and the current plans will repeat and exacerbate those mistakes. This land has been valued by all its human inhabitants, but it also has a history of eliciting conflicts over its use. It is our responsibility to do better now.

MDOT’s proposal is contrary to the City of Detroit’s Streets for People Plan. The results will not be safe or vibrant.

MDOT’s proposed boulevard will not be “beautiful, economically vibrant, comfortable, and safe for all Detroiters regardless of their age, ability, or how they choose to get around.” Instead, over 150 people at a recent town hall held by State Senator Stephanie Chang reported how they see the plans resulting in an uglier, less safe, less economically viable, less inclusive city fabric — one that would even delay medical services in an area with a large senior population, even in life-threatening emergencies.

MDOT has failed to reflect community input and concern. They have lost the community’s trust.

They substantially changed the project — which had been put on hold by Governor Whitmer — and then rushed approval of the new project during the height of COVID when citizens could not duly participate in the democratic process. Furthermore, MDOT has repeatedly asked for feedback at public meetings and through the LAC process but has failed to show how serious feedback and concerns are being integrated.

MDOT’s plan will hurt local businesses as bad or worse than the COVID-19 pandemic.

This will mean lost tax income for the city, lost profits, and lost jobs. It’s insulting that MDOT has waited this long in the process to have a serious discussion about mitigating construction impacts and still has not addressed the concerns of local businesses large and small. 

RESOURCES FOR NEIGHBORS

Current plans for I-375 are not good enough for Detroiters. Rebuilding I-375 as a “boulevard” that is up to nine lanes wide is estimated to cost at least $300M and will take years to complete.

We shouldn’t spend that money on the wrong idea. We shouldn’t rush forward until the plan is a great one. We shouldn’t build a highway by another name.

Links below provide views on the project. These should be reviewed alongside MDOT’s official project page (including Boulevard Navigation Maps, I-375 Navigation Videos, MDOT's Environmental Assessment) and the City of Detroit’s project page.

Public Engagement was rushed during COVID

Read the timeline as outlined by MDOT’s Finding of No Significant Impact document and decide for yourself if I-375 involved “rich and thorough” community engagement.

MDOT’s Proposed street is wider than an NBA court

Shows the pedestrian crossing on the North side of Lafayette St. at I-375. Update: as of May 1, MDOT is now proposing 6 lanes at this intersection.

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