The Metro: How capping I-75 could reconnect communities

In the 1940s, Detroit, like many communities across the country, saw the highway system tear through Black neighborhoods. It disrupted the way of life where new music, foods and culture thrived. 

But now, Michigan and other states around the country are working to re-connect communities torn apart by highways. That’s true for the project to undo I-375 and it’s also true for a new project to cap I-75 that would connect downtown to midtown Detroit. 

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The Downtown Detroit Partnership, Michigan Department of Transportation and The City of Detroit have spearheaded this initiative. Public engagement sessions began recently on the I-75 project. 

To explain the details and idea behind capping I-75, Downtown Detroit Partnership CEO Eric Lawson and Detroit Director of Planning and Development Antoine Bryant joined The Metro.

“It’s, as you said in the opening, an opportunity to really start to think about how we reconnect our communities, how we repair some of the damage that was caused back in the ’50s and ’60s,” Lawson says. “But most importantly, how we can lean into the growth and the momentum that is taking place both in the core as well as throughout the city.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Lawson and Bryant.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 25, 2024: 

• Detroit Documenter Tyrone Anderson and Documenters Coordinator Noah Kincade return to The Metro to discuss changes that could be coming to the city’s rental ordinance program. Data Driven Detroit estimated that there are over 120,000 rental properties in the city and only 9 percent of these properties have a certificate of compliance. 
• This week you’ve been hearing conversations with candidates running for two open seats in Detroit’s 36th District Court. Today, we conclude our series with Andrea Bradley-Baskin. 
• The Arab American Empowerment Summit is taking place today and tomorrow at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn. The event features music, food and panel discussions led by local leaders. Co-founder of the Arab American Foundation Warren David joined the show.