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Voices from Corktown want to ‘Save the Bricks!’ on Michigan Avenue

Voices from Corktown want to ‘Save the Bricks!’ on Michigan Avenue

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Vaseline

For Sheila Cockrel and Bob Roberts, the message they want to convey about plans to repave Michigan Avenue revolves largely around brick.

Namely: they preserve.

Cockrel and Roberts, a board member and president of the Corktown Business Association, respectively, are two of the leading voices sounding the alarm about the so-far failed effort to redesign one of Detroit’s main streets.

The stakeholders they speak to have many concerns about the project plans. They worry about expected traffic congestion due to lane reductions, the inability to turn left except at traffic lights, the impact of construction on businesses and residents, and what they perceive as a lack of transparency.

The Michigan Department of Transportation told the Free Press that nothing has been finalized, though plans are outlined on the department’s website. One page about the project proposes a dedicated transit lane with space for autonomous vehicles, one lane for vehicles in each direction and other changes through Corktown. The so-called “final acceptable alternative” referenced on the site also describes reusing the historic brick paving for additional sidewalk space throughout the corridor and new concrete brick road paving in the historic districts.

Cockrel and Roberts use rocks believed to have been removed from the road between the Lodge Freeway and Rosa Parks Boulevard to make their case.

Alternatives to removing historic stones

“As a visitor, you know you’re in Corktown when you hit the bricks. If you’re a resident or a business owner, you know you’re home when you hit the bricks,” Cockrel, a former Detroit City Council member, told a Free Press reporter ahead of last week’s launch of the “Save The Bricks! ” campaign, which is collecting signatures for a petition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Mayor Mike Duggan and others. “Saving the bricks is really about preserving a sense of place for the neighborhood, and it violates basic planning principles to take the bricks out of a historic neighborhood so that you can have more efficient travel on your buses in this case.”

Roberts, co-owner of McShane’s Irish Pub & Whiskey Bar in Michigan and Trumbull, said he gets the same reaction when he tells customers about the redesign. First it’s annoyance about what’s likely to happen to the traffic flow, and then it’s, “‘They can’t do it. They can’t take the bricks.’”

Roberts, who called the reduction to one lane in each direction a non-starter for him, pointed to Saginaw Street in Flint for an example of what he thinks could be possible. The city of Flint announced last week that the “brick-by-brick” restoration of the thoroughfare was nearly complete, ahead of schedule, and that the street was expected to reopen this week.

The restoration included re-laying original bricks dating back to 1898. “All damaged bricks were replaced with period-correct bricks sourced from an Iowa company that salvages old paving stones,” the city said in its announcement.

The Free Press reached out to MDOT to get a better sense of the status of the Michigan Avenue project, which was previously billed as an effort to not only make the neighborhood more accessible but also to support “advanced mobility initiatives” to accommodate automated vehicles and preserve the “unique and historic feel” of the corridor. Part of the effort involving automated vehicles involved a private company called Cavnue.

Work on Michigan Avenue could begin next spring

Cockrel, who noted that the project now appears to be more focused on streetscapes than advanced mobility, said the company is no longer involved with Michigan Avenue. Rob Morosi, a spokesman for MDOT, said the company is focused on its work on westbound Interstate 94, where the department, in a recent news release, said Cavnue is helping develop a pilot project for a connected and automated vehicle corridor from Belleville to Rawsonville. The company did not respond to the Free Press’ request for comment.

A statement from Morosi in response to questions focused on the Michigan Avenue project said, “MDOT is working closely with city officials and is committed to continued engagement and transparency. No final decisions have been made as we continue our outreach to community partners.”

It’s unclear if that’s still the case, but a section of MDOT’s website focused on Michigan Avenue put the project’s schedule from spring 2025 to fall 2026 with an estimated cost of $70 million. A $25 million federal grant was also part of the schedule. The intention to remove the brick paving was mentioned in a 2022 Free Press story about the grant award.

Community engagement meetings regarding Michigan Avenue likely date back to at least 2019. Roberts indicated that initial discussions appeared to focus primarily on improvements such as elevations and adding pedestrian crossings.

City: Use of bricks is ‘up to MDOT’

The Free Press also reached out to John Roach, a spokesman for the Duggan administration, because part of the Michigan Avenue project downtown would be the city’s responsibility. Cockrel said that points to the need for a coordinated vision.

Roach quoted a statement from Sam Krassenstein, the city’s chief infrastructure officer:

“The City is beginning the design of its portion of Michigan Avenue (Cass to Woodward) and is coordinating this project design, public engagement, and construction plan with MDOT (Cass to I-96). We also plan to jointly participate in the next Michigan Avenue public engagement meeting, scheduled for early September. The City’s portion of Michigan Avenue does not contain any exposed brick. We understand the community’s attachment to these historic brick pavers farther west in Corktown, but how they would be reused in the new design is up to MDOT.”

The area that would be re-done on Michigan Avenue is a short distance from a section of 14th Street that is being used as a test bed for wireless charging technology for specially equipped electric vehicles. When that project was unveiled last year, the Free Press was told that a section of Michigan Avenue would also include wireless charging technology, with construction slated for 2025. It was not clear whether that is still part of the plan.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence at [email protected]. Become a subscriber. Send a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.

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