DETROIT (WWJ) -- Planned changes to a section of I-375 in Downtown Detroit are not going over too well with some members of the community.
The Michigan Department of Transportation wants to convert a portion of the freeway into a street-level boulevard, build a safe, modern interchange at I-75; and develop more street level connections from neighborhoods to Eastern Market, Greektown and the downtown area.
Olga Stella and other members of the group Re-Think I-375 Coalition, however, want MDOT to pause the project for the time being, and provide some answers.
"Help us understand — if it's so urgent that this project take place — what is a collaborative way over the next 18 months, what are the milestones?" she asked. How do we engage the community in figuring out: What does this project mean for Detroit? And then how do you design a road that meets that compelling vision for the future?"
Thus far, Stella and her group are not sold on this plan.
"We've had a lot of meetings with MDOT, where MDOT presents to us," she said. "But the back and forth around how this road is going to impact the future of the city, the land use vision for the new land that will be developed as a result of changing the I-75/375 interchange, none of that has been figured out."
MDOT has said this project includes numerous community benefits, and takes an equitable approach to incorporating the history of the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods, which were removed for urban renewal and construction of the freeway. An estimated 130,000 people and hundreds of businesses, churches and more were uprooted when I-375 was built in the 1960s.
But Carl Bentley of the group Re-Think I-375 Coalition thinks more should be done.
"Black Bottom was ripped up, to — as one politician put it — dig a ditch, OK? Bentley said. "So, filling that hole now should actually, as we've heard, is our restorative justice," Bentley said. "There's no plans around what that really means."
Bentley says one recommendation is to take a look at the descendants from Black Bottom and perhaps create a fund to help those people restart their businesses.
MDOT will be holding a public meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the project and answer questions. It takes place at 6 p.m. (June 25) at The Eastern event center in Downtown Detroit.
At this meeting, MDOT said the project team will be sharing information about recent traffic data, project concept refinements, the neighborhood framework plan, new partners, business and workforce development program initiatives, and early construction mitigation efforts.
The event will also be livestreamed on MDOT's YouTube channel. Presentation materials will be posted on the project webpage starting July 2.