Interstate 375 is a north-south Interstate Highway in the city ofDetroit, Michigan, United States. At only in length, it once had the distinction of being the shortest signed Interstate Highway in the country. It is the southernmost leg of the Walter P. Chrysler Freeway and a spur of I-75 into downtown Detroit, ending at the unsigned Business Spur Interstate 375, better known as Jefferson Avenue. The freeway opened on June 12, 1964. The Michigan Department of Transportation announced in 2013 that it may remove I-375 in the future.
Route description
I-375 and the Chrysler Freeway begin at Jefferson Avenue between St. Antoine Street and Beaubien Street in downtown Detroit near the Renaissance Center. They run east before turning north. Just about a mile after the southern terminus, I-375 meets the Fisher Freeway which carries I-75 north of downtown. At this interchange, I-75 takes ramps to leave the Fisher Freeway and use the Chrysler Freeway, replacing I-375. I-375 is a four-lane freeway south of the I-75 interchange, where it widens to six lanes. The entire length of I-375 is included on the National Highway System, a network of roadways that are important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. According to the MichiganDepartment of Transportation, I-375 is. At the time it opened until at least 2007, I-375 was the shortest signed Interstate in the country. Based on FHWA data, there are three Interstates that are shorter: I-110 in Texas, I-878 in New York and I-315 in Montana. The latter two designations are not signed on their respective roadways, and I-110 in Texas has since been signed. Every year, MDOT conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. In 2009, MDOT calculated that 14,112 vehicles per day used the southernmost section of I-375, on average, and 53,900 vehicles used the northernmost section near I-75. These vehicles included 798 trucks.
History
Construction on the first segments of the Chrysler Freeway started on January 30, 1959. The area where the freeway was built was called Black Bottom, a historic district that received its name from the soil found there by French explorers. In the 1940s and 1950s, the area was home to a community of African-American entrepreneurs and businesses that rivaled Harlem in New York City. Black Bottom was one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and at the time of freeway construction, it had wooden sewers and dilapidated buildings. In the 1950s and 1960s, many lower-class African-American residents lived in overcrowded and run-down housing in Black Bottom. These residents could not afford to maintain their homes because of their low income, leading outsiders to view the area as neglected and in need of updating and development. The area, like Corktown to the west of downtown, was targeted by urban planners for urban renewal and infrastructure improvements in the 1950s and 1960s, which included the Chrysler Freeway and public housing projects. On June 12, 1964, a surface street highway/freeway in Detroit that ran north from Jefferson Avenue and Randolph Street to the Fisher/Chrysler freeway interchange was opened. The southernmost segment, built through the Black Bottom neighborhood, was designated I-375 at this time. The freeway cost $50 million to build. In April 2013, MDOT announced that it was studying whether to repair the freeway at a cost of $80 million or convert the freeway south of Gratiot Avenue into a boulevard to reduce maintenance cost. This change would make the area more pedestrian-friendly and bring new developers and residents into the neighborhood. Converting this segment of the freeway and its right-of-way to a boulevard would free up of land for development. The department invited businesses and other groups affected by the potential project to participate in the study in November 2013. Advocates of the conversion cite increased pedestrian access and an improved connection between Eastern Market and downtown as reasons to remove the freeway. Also, because the freeway has outdated geometric conditions, such as ramp widths and curvature, the high crash rates and congestion of I-375 are used to support the freeway's removal. Some people who live or work along the freeway and in the downtown area note the improved access I-375 provides to the area as reasons to retain the freeway. Six alternative proposals for rebuilding I-375 were unveiled by MDOT in June 2014. They ranged in price from $40 million to $80 million. These options included rebuilding the freeway as is, reducing it to a boulevard or multiple one-way streets, or upgrading the existing freeway right-of-way to include bike lanes and other pedestrian-friendly features. In January 2016, the department announced that any decision on a course of action would be delayed indefinitely. However, in May 2017, MDOT announced it was going forward with an environmental assessment to identify a preferred alternative. In December 2017, the department announced that they were down to two alternatives, both of which involved replacing the freeway with a boulevard. Both alternatives presented included a four-lane surface boulevard between Gratiot Avenue and Atwater Street. As of September 2019, planning efforts for the conversion of I-375 into a surface street are ongoing.
Exit list
Business spur
The unsigned Business Spur Interstate 375, which is long, continues west on Jefferson Avenue from the southern end of I-375, ending at the entrance to the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel at Randolph Street. Jefferson Avenue past that intersection is M-10. BS I-375 runs next to the Renaissance Center and under a segment of the People Mover. This designation was created in 1964. The 2009 traffic surveys by MDOT reported that 33,376 vehicles, including 922 trucks, had used BS I-375.
