The US Department of Transportation has granted $104.7 million to replace the mile-long I-375 freeway.
Its construction in the 1950s and 1960s through two thriving black neighborhoods, moving people, small businesses and churches. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer put the number of displaced people at 130,000.
The funding, which is intended to spur economic development, will be used to realign ramps near I-375, install traffic calming measures and wider sidewalks, as well as reconnect neighborhood streets to the boulevard.
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg said other affected communities could use government funds to address highway damage.
“Creating the type of streetscape envisioned by this community will be a great future for the appearance of streets and roads in this city and it is important because it helps repair the damage done to a predominantly black community by the gash. created by I-375,” he added.
The United States planned more than 40,000 miles of interstate highways in the 1950s. Many of them, like I-375, ran through historically black and poor neighborhoods.
The Department of Transportation said Thursday it would award $1.5 billion for the 26 projects including I-375.
These projects include $150 million for a new Page road and port facility from between Mesa, California along the Mexican border, $110 million to revamp one of the nation’s largest food distribution centers New York and 70 million dollars to rehabilitate a railroad more than a century old in Chicago.