U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered a major funding announcement for Detroit and the state this week. A $104-million federal grant will be put toward the conversion of the I-375 freeway in Detroit into a 6-lane boulevard.
“Here in Detroit when I-375 was built in 1964, they literally bulldozes the neighborhoods of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, displacing so many mostly-Black Detroiters,” Buttigieg said. “Now this freeway, a generation later, serves to divide communities, primarily communities of color and low income communities from the central business district, the recreational areas and other assets downtown.”
Although no construction start date has been publicly announced, the hope is the project can be completed sometime in 2025. t’s expected to cost around $300 million in total.
