Olivia Lewis
Fellow, Us@250
A Chapter of: Miles to Go: Stories of Us at 250
Echoes of the Past
With I-375 redesign, Detroiters could have a chance to right past community wrongs.
Editor鈥檚 note: This essay was originally published by 听on June 26, 2025, and is a finalist for the for Digital Media (Single Story, Feature). It has been lightly edited to adhere to house style.
In June, guided by her four-wheel walker, Celeste Buxton traveled more than a mile from her home in Lafayette Park to a Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) meeting in Eastern Market. The 95-year-old heard about the public meeting on the restructuring of I-375 from a leaflet she received in the mail as a residential stakeholder in the area.
She wanted to know what MDOT had planned for replacing the freeway, six decades after its construction led to her family leaving her childhood home.听
Buxton arrived late, and the meeting abruptly ended 30 minutes early after participants began voicing questions; MDOT only addressed written queries.听
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a nice idea [to redevelop I-375] because I remember when they built that expressway, when I was growing up,鈥 Buxton said. 鈥淣ow they鈥檙e getting ready to take parts of it away.鈥澨
Black Bottom Archives
Buxton moved back to the neighborhood after she retired. She relies on accessible walkways and the public bus system for transportation. She is one of the few people whose life will be directly affected by the freeway plans twice in one lifetime.
Buxton grew up in the Black Bottom neighborhood, or what is now known as Lafayette Park. The historical neighborhood and adjoining Paradise Valley were decimated in the 1950s along with the numerous Black-owned businesses along the popular Hastings Street. Through the Federal Housing Act and under eminent domain, the city forced residents of the two neighborhoods to vacate, leaving their homes and businesses behind. Many were renting property, and some never received financial support for lost businesses and homes.听
New, architecturally world-renowned condos with predominantly white residents and a federally funded freeway took their place. Known today as I-375, the urban renewal project yielded one of the shortest freeways in the nation. At a time when Detroit was beginning to lose white residents to a sprawling suburban lifestyle, the local government spent millions on infrastructure to accommodate their access to downtown, depleting local Black wealth in the process.
Now, MDOT will redevelop the area once again鈥攖his time with an estimated half a billion dollars to spend to create a safer, more walkable and multimodal area.听
In rare, parallel circumstances, Detroit has a second chance to redevelop infrastructure and historic grounds鈥攖his time with the community in mind. The 70-year wait for someone to correct what happened when these communities were destroyed is nearing some sort of conclusion. However, to fulfill the hopes and dreams of the surviving members of that community, MDOT鈥 a state agency primarily responsible for building and maintaining roads鈥攎ust deliver on community renewal and change. The question remains whether that task is within the scope of the agency. In the process of reimagining I-375 so far, that tension has taken center stage. Many residents have said the current plans don鈥檛 satisfy the community鈥檚 needs to address the wrongs that happened and create a future that includes everyone who was displaced.听
At the core is the question: Is it even possible to recreate a community, once a stronghold for Black families and businesses, so many years after it was destroyed?听
Valaurian Waller, BridgeDetroit
Establishing the stakes
In the 61 years since the freeway opened, Detroit鈥檚 population dwindled from white flight and urban sprawl鈥攋ust like most major U.S. cities at the time. Since then, Detroit鈥檚 mayoral leadership stumbled through race relations, economic downturn, and the city鈥檚 overall safety and security. Voters across southeast Michigan prioritized suburban residents for transportation infrastructure to maintain easy access on freeways north of Detroit into the downtown core. Other local decisions fostered doubt and skepticism for an inclusive Detroit future.
Within the last few years, Detroit鈥檚 debt burden has significantly decreased and public-private partnerships have supported new business and housing resources both downtown and in strategic neighborhoods. The I-375 freeway touches half a dozen neighborhoods and serves a melting pot of culturally and ethnically diverse people across socioeconomic thresholds. Millions of dollars have been invested in downtown developments and, in 2023, the city鈥檚 population increased for the first time since 1958.
MDOT officials say the current state of the freeway is outdated and unsafe. The department has spent the last 11 years analyzing the area and has proposed shifting the freeway into a level boulevard to increase safety, walkability and alternative methods of mobility. Early concept videos and design maps suggested eliminating a driving lane in either direction and building new streets and pathways into a connected grid system.
Valaurian Waller, BridgeDetroit
MDOT says it estimates the project cost to be in the neighborhood of $500 million, with $104 million coming from a federal INFRA grant and the remainder coming from state-allocated funds.听
Unlike six decades ago, city and state project managers are asking for community input on the massive project before construction begins this fall. MDOT and the city of Detroit partnered with architecture and design firms HNTB and Interboro Partners and continue to host an ambitious number of community stakeholder meetings.
Government entities began modest stakeholder meetings, or discussions with people who live or work in the immediate affected area, in 2016. Some have criticized that effort for making decisions before engaging the broader public. Those conversations expanded in 2024 to the general public to gather feedback and make changes to the evolving plans.
The city of Detroit is expected to acquire 30 acres of excess land in the process. This year, the city will also elect a new mayor for the first time in over a decade. While the land transfer process for the excess land has yet to be confirmed, it is subject to the state鈥檚 Limited Liability Company Act, which governs how LLCs are run and organized.听
Once elected, one of the nine mayoral candidates will be expected to appoint a committee to determine the excess land鈥檚 development process.
The public meetings are usually held on weeknight evenings and dinner is provided. Widely attended by stakeholders over the age of 30, there are posters, printouts and PowerPoint presentations that share information about the process and the proposed project. Updated information is also available after each meeting.
So far, MDOT has removed additional lanes from the original project plan following community feedback in March. But the lengthy, tedious, and oftentimes confusing process has left Detroiters split on what it means to have an inclusive process and how residents will benefit from the changes in the future.
The city will host the next Neighborhood Framework meeting on June 26 at 5:30 p.m. at Detroit Edison Public School Academy. The roadway will be designed and built in segments, and drainage work will begin south of Jefferson Avenue in September, according to MDOT. The project will be finalized in 2027 and construction is anticipated to end in 2029, the department says. The city will continue public Neighborhood Framework meetings into 2026.
Courtesy of the Detroit Historical Society
From housing crisis to suburban sprawl
From 1920 to 1970, most of the U.S. population lived in urban cities. By 1949, Detroit was experiencing a housing crisis due to an influx of residents. The Detroit Free Press reported the city had become a 鈥渕egalopolis鈥濃攑eople of every ethnicity were moving to Southeast Michigan for jobs. Three years later, the census counted 1.8 million people living in Detroit.
In 1951, the Free Press reported that the city had acquired the land within the boundary from Gratiot to Lafayette, and Hastings to Dequindre streets鈥攚hat is known today as Lafayette Park. That same year, Wallace Hushen wrote in the Free Press that merchants in the area 鈥渃omplained that the removal of 1,953 families and nearly 1,000 single persons from the area has hurt their business.鈥
Ten years later, the newspaper reported in its 鈥淪uburban Closeup Series鈥 that after the openings of Northland Mall in 1954 and Eastgate Shopping Center in 1957, the impending threat to Detroit was urban sprawl. Megachurches, shopping malls, and the 鈥渃ountryside鈥 of Oakland County became appealing to Detroit鈥檚 white residents.
Industrial businesses moved operations outside the city, citing higher taxes, a lack of parking, and space for increased operations within city boundaries, according to letters sent to Mayor Louis C. Miriani in the 1950s. Within those same archival letters, the neighborhood east of downtown from Gratiot Avenue to the Riverfront and Brush Street to St. Aubin, the predominantly Black neighborhood of Black Bottom, was considered 鈥渢he slums.鈥
Black residents at the time didn鈥檛 see it that way.听
鈥淵ou get me talking about Black Bottom, that鈥檚 my heart,鈥 said Shirley Beeler. 鈥淚 was too little to understand exactly what was going on until it was done.鈥
Beeler spent her childhood in Black Bottom. She moved to Southfield, a predominantly Black suburb of Detroit, with her husband years ago. But as a child, she lived with her parents and 13 siblings until they were forced to leave. She remembers when their church, Bethlehem Temple, was demolished and Black Bottom was erased.听
鈥淚t makes me want to cry…they tore down all of those homes and stores,鈥 Beeler said. 鈥淎nd they won鈥檛 bring it back…I don鈥檛 mind improvement, but include us.鈥
Edward Stanton | Reuther Library archives
Long before Black Bottom was a predominantly Black neighborhood, it was occupied by French, Italian, and Jewish residents. When new, bigger properties became available north of downtown, the Europeans moved and rented their downtown homes to Black people.
On Sunday afternoons after church, Beeler lined up at the corner of Clinton and Chene for pieces of candy, grab bags of goodies, and ice cream for 鈥渢hree cents a dip.鈥澨
鈥淚f Daddy gave you some money, you waited to spend it at [the] confectionery store,鈥 said Beeler.
It鈥檚 one of many fond memories the 95-year-old has of her childhood in Black Bottom. Nearly a lifetime later, Beeler said she fears the impending construction will have similar consequences to Detroiters that I-375 had to the Black community years ago.听
鈥淚t was built so that [suburban residents could] go to work; it wasn鈥檛 for us,鈥 Beeler said. 鈥淲hat did we need a freeway for? We were already home.鈥澨
At a February MDOT community engagement meeting on the I-375 project, local historian Jamon Jordan and former Detroit planning consultant Rod Arroyo said that over 36,000 Black residents lived in Black Bottom over time, moving to Detroit for the economic opportunities from the South during the Great Migration following the end of World War I.
The housing stock at the time was not ideal. There were rats and bed bugs. Some used newspapers to cover the walls because they couldn鈥檛 afford to paint the wooden homes.
鈥淚t [Black Bottom] was always on the news,鈥 Beeler said. 鈥淸They said] we are the cause of the situation. But [we] didn鈥檛 make enough money to buy a shovel. I remember my mother saying that. How can they talk about [us] not having grass and we had no way to cut it? So, there was just dirt.鈥
And yet the children spent their days joyously running through the streets, playing baseball, singing, and dancing. There were Black doctors, pharmacists, artists and entrepreneurs. There was a community.
鈥淢aybe I was too young to realize it was bad, I don鈥檛 know,鈥 she said.
Celeste Buxton said she also remembers the confectionery store in Black Bottom. She attended elementary school on Congress. She said the racial tension at the time was palpable.
Buxton was one of eight children in her parents鈥 Black Bottom home. Unlike the many renters in the neighborhood, Buxton said her family rented a home, then purchased a property and was paid to relocate when I-375 was constructed. They moved into a property on Detroit鈥檚 east side. Buxton became friends with Beeler at the largest public high school in Michigan, Cass Technical High School, where both women graduated. They said they formed Club 48鈥攁 social club for Black students at Cass Tech in 1948.
Local grocers, shops and clubs dominated the former Hastings Street in Paradise Valley. Arroyo found a copy of Booker T. Washington鈥檚 1952 Black Business Directory at Burton Historical Library. Over 2,500 Black-owned businesses were listed in the area at the time鈥攎ore than anywhere else in the country.
Detroit鈥檚 first Black mayor, Coleman A. Young, who served the city from 1974 to 1994, grew up in Black Bottom. He detailed witnessing the neighborhood and his father鈥檚 tailoring shop being demolished in his memoir, Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Coleman Young.
Racism steeped within the Federal Housing Act and the Federal Freeway Act, fueled redlining and urban renewal programs that disproportionately damaged the city鈥檚 Black residents.
The remaining housing options were limited for Black residents; they could purchase a home from a Jewish family that was leaving the city or cohabitate with other families in rented homes.
鈥淭he combination of urban renewal to freeway construction…there was very little land left,鈥 Arroyo said. 鈥淚t was like the government planned to remove as many Black residents and Black businesses as possible.鈥
An evolving plan
After a decade of working toward the redevelopment of I-375, minimal construction is expected to begin along Jefferson Avenue before the end of the year.听
MDOT officials say the project plan will continue to fluctuate as public engagement continues.
Quinn Banks, Special to BridgeDetroit
Jonathan Loree, MDOT project manager, said the department has struggled to maintain the bridges and pavement due to costly and unpredictable maintenance while relying on 鈥渟hort-term fixes.鈥
鈥淚t creates a really challenging interchange with some really dangerous curbs, some significant safety issues there,鈥 said Loree.
From 2014 to 2016, the department conducted a feasibility study, and it spent the following three years conducting an environmental assessment.
The assessments determined an opportunity for future growth and development in the area with the proposed roadway changes: a raised boulevard with more connections to the river, downtown, and neighborhoods on the east side.
The freeway will be filled in with dirt and held in place with retaining walls to meet the existing corridor.听
Quinn Banks, Special to BridgeDetroit
鈥淚t鈥檚 [I-375] for cars only,鈥 said Loree. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a pleasant place for any other sorts of activities. Being right downtown and the purpose that it serves, it just makes sense to look at some different types of roadway options.鈥
The evolving project plans highlight a desire for green space and potential development opportunities. There will be bike lanes, walking paths, and reduced traffic lanes that would lessen car traffic in the area. The roadway is MDOT鈥檚 responsibility, but city streets may be developed as the plan progresses, and the city is expected to control the use and zoning of the excess land where the Gratiot connector exists today.听
The state of Michigan owns the freeway and the city will have first refusal rights to land unoccupied by the smaller boulevard. MDOT officials say the department has never had excess property at this magnitude and has the option to sell the land to the city, developers, public auction or a land trust.听
鈥淭he intent is that however that happens, we will support what comes out of the framework,鈥 said Lorre.听
However, state and city appointees will make the final decision on the implementation, details, and contracts regarding the excess land.听
Those appointees have not yet been determined, but will report to Detroit鈥檚 next elected mayor.
MDOT created a Local Advisory Council to engage stakeholders during the feasibility study. The group is made up of neighborhood representatives, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, entertainment venues, private businesses, faith-based organizations, and city departments.
The meetings have received mixed reviews.
Olga Stella, a Lafayette Park resident and member of the Local Advisory Committee, is also an advocate for the Re-Think I-375 Community Coalition. The coalition, which includes residents, business owners, and local stakeholders, amassed over 600 signatures in 2024 in a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Department of Transportation asking for clarity and better planning regarding the I-375 project. The project has progressed, and coalition members continue to show up to meetings and push for proposal changes.听
In May, the coalition met to discuss the potential for reparative investment for the area through affordable housing, increased access to opportunities for Black developers, and jobs for residents.听
In April, Stella described the Local Advisory Committee meetings as tedious鈥攈ours were spent discussing potential sidewalk widths with MDOT. Two weeks later, the city used that information and hosted a public framework meeting with MDOT. The city asked residents to break into small groups and provide feedback on construction plans with sticky notes and colorful dot stickers to represent open spaces, mixed-use developments, businesses, and entertainment and residential areas.
鈥淚鈥檓 still worried about the timeline,鈥 Stella said at the meeting.
The mother of two said the conversations at the April meeting were what residents have asked for all along, but she remains unconvinced that their feedback will make it into the final project plans before construction begins.
Alexa Bush left the Kresge Foundation earlier this year when she was appointed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to be the city鈥檚 planning director. Bush said the city will host the remaining community framework meetings. According to Bush, the group discussion鈥搒tyle meetings are a response to complaints about the lack of inclusive planning conversations with the city in the past.
Michigan Department of Transportation, photos by Valaurian Waller
鈥淗ow can you provide feedback for sidewalk seating at a caf茅 when you don鈥檛 know where the caf茅 is?鈥 she said.
Jesse Love, who works downtown, and Sharon Floyd, a lifelong Detroiter, sat at a table together during the April meeting. The pair brainstormed ideas for the best places for residential housing and mixed-use development along the proposed corridor. Both heard about the meetings through work, their main connection to Downtown Detroit.
鈥淭he energy here, I love being a part of it,鈥 said Love, a Detroit transplant who moved to the city five years ago after graduating from the University of Michigan.
Courtesy images from MDOT and Detroit Historical Society
Love and Floyd shared desires for a future tribute to Black Bottom along the corridor through a library or community center. They also talked about issues that longtime Detroiters have voiced for years: affordable housing, educational centers, innovative job training, and support for local businesses.
鈥淚 do think there鈥檚 a future here,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd the mayor鈥檚 a big part of that [change]. But it鈥檚 the people who never left who are what make me want to stay, to see the history, to understand the value of the city and try to be more connected.鈥
The state has allocated $300 million to the project.
Private entities have not contributed to the project鈥檚 budget. However, the Kresge Foundation is listed as a project partner on the I-375 website. The philanthropic institution supported the Downtown Detroit Partnership and the organization鈥檚 work with MDOT to gain community feedback. They released a review on opportunities to increase walkability, evaluate proposed MDOT plans, and identify potential strategies to minimize the environmental and economic impact of construction in the area.听
In an email to BridgeDetroit in June, Wendy Lewis-Jackson, managing director of Kresge鈥檚 Detroit program, said that Kresge鈥檚 role has been to provide targeted grant funding for the peer review and other grantee partners for 鈥減lace keeping and collaboration initiatives and hosting reparative roundtables…鈥
鈥淭he Foundation is committed to the long-term vibrancy of Detroit as well as helping ensure residents and families have the input to determine what that looks like in their community,鈥 she wrote.
Quinn Banks, Special to BridgeDetroit
MDOT reported an additional three public meetings and 12 workshops with the city of Detroit from 2017 to 2022 regarding the plans and a total of 119 engagements with local stakeholders through 2022.
Since then, the department has hosted six advisory council meetings, five public meetings, and two webinars. The city鈥檚 first public neighborhood framework meeting was held in Eastern Market in December 2024. Public neighborhood framework meetings are tentatively planned each month through September.
Loree said MDOT uses collected data from the meetings to ensure the boulevard corridor meets the needs of all users.
鈥淸It will] meet the needs of the traffic that鈥檚 commuting or coming down to all the great destinations in the city,鈥 said Loree. 鈥淏ut also, it truly meets that reconnective goal of having that really strong pedestrian connectivity and the multimodal aspect has always been there.鈥
Connecting to the past听
While MDOT has touted widespread engagement, Loree admitted that a specific group has proven difficult to reach. Former residents and the descendants of former residents of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley are missing from the conversation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely been our most challenging group,鈥 he said.
Loree said that because the neighborhoods were 鈥渃ompletely cleared and destroyed,鈥 and many of the former residents are no longer actively engaged with the area. However, Loree said he believes that connecting the past into the future will help MDOT determine how to best support Detroit鈥檚 neighborhoods moving forward.听
Quinn Banks, Special to BridgeDetroit
MDOT hosted a public event in late February at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to engage more residents on the history of the area and to encourage them to participate in upcoming meetings.
Marcia Black, executive director of Black Bottom Archives, said it鈥檚 鈥渘ot surprising鈥 to her that MDOT has struggled to reach the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley communities. She said it鈥檚 a challenging idea for the department to be the main facilitator within a reparative process.听
鈥淟earning on relationships and trust is really hard,鈥 said Black.听
Black Bottom Archives (BBA), a grassroots organization, is dedicated to verbal storytelling of the displaced residents of Black Bottom. BBA uses family photos and records stories from former Black Bottom residents and their descendants. They aim to tell stories to acknowledge the impact of what happened and to ensure the stories aren鈥檛 erased or forgotten.听
They have worked with MDOT, the city, and the Kresge Foundation to understand the history of the area and to encourage public conversation about the proposed changes. The executive director has attended MDOT and Kresge-led stakeholder meetings on behalf of BBA since 2022 and said there is an 鈥渙penness around making space for folks to be a part of the conversation.鈥澨
Quinn Banks, Special to BridgeDetroit
Black said not a lot of Black Detroiters feel included in newer Detroit developments. She said she鈥檚 heard requests for the boulevard to include affordable housing, places to celebrate Black storytelling and history, as well as space for Black-owned businesses and cultural engagements.听
Buxton agreed, she鈥檇 like to see Black Bottom recognized in the future development.听
鈥淚t would be alright with me, whatever they do to honor Black Bottom,鈥 Buxton said. 鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 where I went to school, where I was born, and where I joined the Girl Scouts.鈥澨
However, said that she likes where she lives and wants to see accessibility improved.听
鈥淚 like [Lafayette Park] because it鈥檚 pretty down here and it鈥檚 convenient for getting around,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a driver鈥檚 license, so I ride the bus for 50 cents.鈥澨
Some Detroiters have been pessimistic about change, as people feel unheard, marginalized, and ignored in decision-making processes.
Malachi Barrett, BridgeDetroit
In the past, city plans were made before or without community engagement, and having a plan while asking for feedback comes across as performative to some residents, said Black.
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield represents District 5, which includes Lafayette Park. Her office did not respond to requests for comment from BridgeDetroit. However, during the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, the mayoral candidate was asked about what the project should look like and whether she supports the effort.
鈥淗istorically, we know what the freeway did to strip away generational wealth from Black communities,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hat I鈥檝e heard overwhelmingly is there鈥檚 a lack of trust and there鈥檚 been a lack of engagement to address that issue.鈥
Sheffield noted that there are questions over who will have access to the excess land and how much businesses will be impacted, with owners worried that construction will devastate their livelihood.听
鈥淚 do have several concerns, and I think more conversations need to take place around 375 and real conversations about how we repair the harm that was caused by the freeway that displaced Black Bottom and Paradise Valley,鈥 Sheffield said.听
The weight of urban renewal
In 1960, Detroit鈥檚 Housing Commission received several letters from women asking for housing assistance for their families.
That same year, resignation letters were submitted to Housing Commission leadership, citing the ongoing effects of urban renewal projects in the city.
The construction of I-375, the removal of families, and the destruction of Black wealth was never forgotten. It took years, but the Michigan Historical Commission erected an historical designation for the Black Bottom neighborhood in 2021. The long-awaited placard is a reminder to all Detroiters and its visitors that the community existed.
鈥淏lack Bottom is the most culturally significant neighborhood in Michigan,鈥 Jamon Jordan, the city鈥檚 historian, said at a Black Bottom Archives event in February.
The weight of the long-term effects of urban renewal and the sting of prioritizing white flight over Detroit residents lingers throughout the imperative discussions on the complex I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project. There鈥檚 massive interest from current residents, former residents, and descendants of the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley communities, and pushback from current community stakeholders who demand accountability from decision makers as the community engagement process continues.
The need for a safer, more walkable, and multimodal roadway is pertinent. MDOT and state and Detroit police have closed portions of the short freeway dozens of times for roadwork and motor vehicle accidents.
While the tedious work of sidewalk lengths, the number of rain basins, and the curvature of a roadway has sparked meeting fatigue for some, the ongoing discussions about I-375 and potential developments moving forward are Detroiters鈥 opportunity to contribute to the city鈥檚 changing landscape and to hold officials accountable if they falter.
Miles to Go: Stories of Us at 250
- Foreword: America, A Work in Progress
- The Semiquin
- The Afterlife of Amache
- Dispatch: Denver, Colorado
- Marco鈥檚 Journey
- Making an Impact
- Dispatch: Chicago, Illinois
- If You Build It, Will They Come?
- Echoes of the Past
- More than Neighbors
- Dispatch: Washington, DC
- The 鈥淣ew Georgia鈥
- Hurricane Katrina鈥檚 Lessons
- Dispatch: New Orleans, Louisiana