Here's a diagram showing the old streetcar and interurban (called "electric railways", here) lines:
Interurbans would be more akin to longer-distance light rail lines, today. Both the streetcar system and interurbans got replaced earlier than they did in larger cities. I think I read by 1933, buses had fully replaced the streetcar lines. I believe it was until the 1950's that they got replaced by buses in Detroit.
GM made sure to put an end to the reasonable and reliable street trolleys and street cars, my dad used talked about taking the Inter-urban out to Lake Lansing [Pine Lake].
The possibility of capping any portion of 496 is huge. Just seeing a fully thought out concept plan will be great, seeing even a block or two actually get capped would be beyond anything I expected to ever see happen here.
Definitely, I'd like to see some kind of capping between Grand and Capitol, even if it's just extending land out half a block on Washington. West of there to MLK is mostly just frontage for the GM plant on the south, so it'd make much less sense since the workers largely don't live across the freeway, and there isn't any retail directly north of the freeway to connect them to on lunch breaks and such.
Between MLK and the city limits, I'd say there are a least three locations where you'd probably want new pedestrian bridges. Extend Buffalo, West and maybe Middle north across the freeway as pedestrian accesses as connections, particularly for students who go to school at the schools and community center in the Westside neighborhood (Riddle, Sexton, Letts). Everett Drive is the only current connection between the city limits and MLK.
Seeing a freeway cap between Grand & Washington would certainly be a boon for my neighborhood, I'd prefer to see a building over the freeway facing at least one side of Washington but it's hard to argue against park space. I think having another cap along part the sunken portion west of MLK would be key to reconnecting that neighborhood south of 496, a couple pedestrian bridges would be at least something though. The eastside is where they could really use a few pedestrian bridges across 496 imo.
The LSJ story on this today gives a bit more detail as to what the city is aiming it. Of course, it's not even a proposal, but you get the outline of what they may be shooting for:
Schor's op-ed described the rough sketch: "Our preference would be a cap, or deck, over a portion of I-496 to connect those isolated blocks to the rest of the city with parks, housing, even a memorial recognizing how a Black community was separated."
I'd also kind of forgot that the outgoing Secertary of Transportation is now a Michigander and actual friends with the mayor and a few other figures in town, which is probably why this got any attention at all at the federal Department of Transportation. Almost ran into some of his security detail when he was in town last year for a fundraiser and was visiting a city counciller's home. lol
Perhaps you meant Sec. of Transportation!
We have talked about topping 496 for a while now, maybe someone has been listening! My dad's service station at Logan and Main was one of the first properties they took over and destroyed. It was very traumatic seeing this process of destruction, it took almost my whole childhood years to complete, they would tear everything down no matter what it was, a little house, a church, a mansion, dig a hole and build a bridge over it. When it was finally done the feeling was very much "this is it! this plain looking highway is what we have all changed our lives and city to build!" I think the whole thing from Grand Ave to the west side at Everett Drive should be covered and also reclaim the huge parking creators along the river from GM where there would be room for replacing that scar, building a new neighborhood of parks housing and businesses that I am sure would spur growth on the west side. Then again, this new regime may have a grudge against Lansing, and Pete B. so I am not holding my hopes too high for this project! it is fun to dream about!
I'm a little worried from the tone of the article that the city is just aiming for a cap over on the west side. While I get their point on feeling that there's some duty to reconnect that neighborhood off Olds/Malcolm X, it's not the most impactful location to focus such an effort imo. This is going to be one of those wait-and-see things.
Some renderings of the Fisher Freeway caps planned in Downtown Detroit at Grand River/2nd, Woodward and John R:
With the Lansing planning money we got the other day, Detroit got $2 million for engineering for their proposal, but it was short of the $5 million MDOT requested for this project, so there is a question of where they are going to come up with the rest of the money.
I don't get down to Detroit often and I did not know that they had covered some of the freeway downtown, or was that the concept drawings, it really looks like grassier version of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. It may be expensive but not impossible. I would like to see Lansing cover more than just one block for the project to be successful, I would also rather see something like newly developed side streets, rather than something lame like one block cap with some trees and grass. The bridge at S. Washington has more foot traffic than any other and should be the starting point for the capping. I have very rarely seen anyone crossing at MLK as there at this point are not many people left in that area so I think a one block project would not be used much and would be kind of waste. When they "mall-ed" N. Washington it was really not well thought out as to who and where the people would come from that would sit and stroll around the mall when there were few shops and no restaurants no housing, mainly it was just a brutalist cement concept with some office buildings that everyone left as soon as they could via 496 that I think was never going to work. So, let's not do that again!
Comments
Interurbans would be more akin to longer-distance light rail lines, today. Both the streetcar system and interurbans got replaced earlier than they did in larger cities. I think I read by 1933, buses had fully replaced the streetcar lines. I believe it was until the 1950's that they got replaced by buses in Detroit.
Between MLK and the city limits, I'd say there are a least three locations where you'd probably want new pedestrian bridges. Extend Buffalo, West and maybe Middle north across the freeway as pedestrian accesses as connections, particularly for students who go to school at the schools and community center in the Westside neighborhood (Riddle, Sexton, Letts). Everett Drive is the only current connection between the city limits and MLK.
I'd also kind of forgot that the outgoing Secertary of Transportation is now a Michigander and actual friends with the mayor and a few other figures in town, which is probably why this got any attention at all at the federal Department of Transportation. Almost ran into some of his security detail when he was in town last year for a fundraiser and was visiting a city counciller's home. lol
We have talked about topping 496 for a while now, maybe someone has been listening! My dad's service station at Logan and Main was one of the first properties they took over and destroyed. It was very traumatic seeing this process of destruction, it took almost my whole childhood years to complete, they would tear everything down no matter what it was, a little house, a church, a mansion, dig a hole and build a bridge over it. When it was finally done the feeling was very much "this is it! this plain looking highway is what we have all changed our lives and city to build!" I think the whole thing from Grand Ave to the west side at Everett Drive should be covered and also reclaim the huge parking creators along the river from GM where there would be room for replacing that scar, building a new neighborhood of parks housing and businesses that I am sure would spur growth on the west side. Then again, this new regime may have a grudge against Lansing, and Pete B. so I am not holding my hopes too high for this project! it is fun to dream about!
With the Lansing planning money we got the other day, Detroit got $2 million for engineering for their proposal, but it was short of the $5 million MDOT requested for this project, so there is a question of where they are going to come up with the rest of the money.