This Michigan Interstate is Called a 'Freeway without a Future'

The days may be numbered for Michigan's shortest interstate highway. I-375 in Detroit is called a "Freeway without a Future" in a study released by the Congress for the New Urbanism.

The report names 10 expressways around America that they target for removal on grounds that they are reaching or have surpassed their useable age and tearing them out would improve the economic, social and environmental health of their communities.

The lone Michigan highway on the list is Interstate 375. The road runs just a hair over a mile from I-75 past Ford Field and ends at Jefferson Ave near the Detroit Windsor Tunnel. When the highway was built, it cut through the historic and culturally significant Black Bottom neighborhood.

Tearing up the highway would remedy what the study calls

a concrete barrier between Detroit’s Riverfront, Greektown, Eastern Market, and Stadium districts.

Talks with the Michigan Department of Transportation and groups in Detroit have been underway for a few years to discuss the future of I-375 with

six alternatives...released in 2016—including an option for rebuilding the highway ($60-70 million), replacing the highway with a multimodal boulevard ($40-50 million), and replacing it with a sunken greenway ($40-50 million).

Should I-375 be removed, Battle Creek's Interstate 194 would become the shorted signed interstate in Michigan at 3.47 miles.

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