DETROIT (WXYZ) — Hundreds of Detroit residents are voicing their concerns over the future construction plans for I-375.
Construction will start on I-375 in 2025. The highway will be transformed into a six-lane boulevard.
Five hundred residents, along with Detroit businesses owners, recently sent a petition to state and city leaders asking them to halt the planning process until their voices are heard.
One of those residents spoke to me about her concerns.
“We want to fix the damn process,” Bernadette Dore’ of Detroit said.
Dore’ lives in Detroit’s Lafayette Park neighborhood, which is near I-375.
She is one of the 500 people who recently signed a petition.
“This is really a moment where the city could really have an incredible design at the level of the waterfront, a real incredible statement, a real new jewel for the city. Raising the freeway putting in lanes, that’s not going to do it right,” Dore’ said.
Dore’ says she feels like the Michigan Department of Transportation and state and city leaders are moving forward with the project without properly listening to community members.
“This is an enormous disappointment. It’s happening too quickly,” Dore’ said.
Another concern for Dore’ is how the construction process will affect businesses close to the highway.
“Their business may be devastated in the way it was during the pandemic because construction is scheduled to take three years,” Dore’ said.
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I wanted to know what businesses thought about the project, so I went over The Detroiter Bar on Beaubien Boulevard.
I spoke to the bar’s manager, Tyler Tocco.
“All the deliveries that we get in, the truck drivers, I’m sure that they are going to be thrown for a whole loop with their delivery schedules and routes that they take,” Tocco said.
I also reached out to MDOT to see what they had to say about these concerns expressed by Dore’ and other residents.
MDOT sent this statement:
“In the last year MDOT has held more than 50 engagement sessions to collect input from the community. Those meetings include our local advisory committee, government advisory committee, public meetings, and stakeholder groups. Our most recent LAC meeting was held May 1, and we’re following up with 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. 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. We look forward to continued engagement and working toward a design that serves the needs of Detroiters.”
There will be another community input meeting hosted by MDOT next month.
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