Corktown, Detroit

A recent Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in the Detroit area caught my eye. The US-12 Detroit Mobility & Innovation Corridor Project, according to MDOT will

“involve rebuilding and repurposing a 2-mile stretch of US-12 (Michigan Avenue) in Corktown…The project is designed to make the Corktown neighborhood more accessible to accommodate more residential and commercial development. The project supports advanced mobility initiatives while building a shared-use corridor that will include non-motorized facilities, installation of dedicated transit and connected and automated vehicle (CAV) lanes, and other aspects of roadway design to maintain the corridors unique and historical feel.”

Located west of Detroit, but North of Windsor, Ontario; Corktown’s adjacent urban highways surround the district. I-95 to the west, I-75 to the north, M-10 freeway to the east, and even West Fort Street; the 6-lane stroad to the south cutting the district off from its waterfront. In my opinion, if you want to compliment and extenuate the walkability of a neighborhood street redesign. Removing highways and restricting roadway width and access while promoting and correctly implementing frequent and efficient urban passenger rail is literally how you bring everything they want to the area. Corktown even has the historical and recently rehabilitated Michigan Central Station. Alas, no. Passenger rail is not included in this redesign; just a bus rapid transit (BRT) and automated vehicle (CAV) lanes? Yes, I see this attempt at capitalism fixing a symptom of the problem is sponsored by Ford. So you’re telling me they will be testing the automated machines in the bus lane?? What could go wrong?!?!

Ok, so I’ve been looking that these project renderings for about 2 hours figuring out how this street redesign would physically work. The proposed street design for each direction of Michigan Avenue through Corktown would include lanes transit, auto travel, and street parking; as well as a widened sidewalk and added bike lane. According to their project presentation each proposed direction of the roadway would measure 59ft across. Also, in the same diagram proposed plans for the bus transit lanes include inductive charging infrastructure. Surely there must be a stoner wizard working at MDOT or Ford or both.

With an estimated cost of $55 million I sure hope officials realize people aren’t just rendering on a computer generated plan. You can’t just make an area look nice to improve economic conditions. There needs to be reason people want to be in a given space other than any transaction of monetary means. For those non-monetary means accessibility is key. Removing or at least reducing greatly our usage of urban highways needs to be done if we want to improve the health and safety of our cities. When we focus on socialistic values and natural freedoms that the people hold. We gain economic tools and freedoms to invest in ourselves and the worth of our cities.