Corktown campaign works to keep Michigan Avenue's historic bricks where they are

For Sheila Cockrel and Bob Roberts, the message they want to convey about plans to redo Michigan Avenue is heavy on the bricks.

Namely, keeping them.

Cockrel and Roberts, as board member and president, respectively, of the Corktown Business Association, are two of the key voices raising alarms about what they see as a mishandled effort so far to plan the redo of one of Detroit’s main streets.

The stakeholders they speak for have lots of concerns about the project plans. They worry about expected traffic bottlenecks because of lane reductions, an inability to make left turns except at signals, construction impacts on businesses and residents and what they feel is a lack of transparency.

The Michigan Department of Transportation indicated to the Free Press that nothing has been finalized, although plans are described on the department’s website . One page about the project envisions a dedicated transit lane with space for autonomous vehicles, a single lane of vehicle travel in each direction and other changes through Corktown. The so-called “final acceptable alternative” referenced on the site also describes the reuse of the historic brick pavers in extra sidewalk space throughout the corridor and new concrete brick road pavers in the historic districts.

Bricks that apparently would be removed from the roadway between roughly the Lodge Freeway and Rosa Parks Boulevard are what Cockrel and Roberts are using to highlight their case.

Alternatives to removing historic bricks

“For visitors, you know you’re in Corktown when you hit the bricks. If you’re a resident or 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 the launch last week of the “Save The Bricks!” campaign , which is gathering signatures for a petition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Mayor Mike Duggan and others. “Saving the bricks is really about keeping a sense of place for the neighborhood, and it’s antithetical to basic planning principles to take the bricks out of a historic neighborhood so that you can have more efficient travel for your buses in this case.”

Roberts, co-owner of McShane’s Irish Pub & Whiskey Bar at Michigan and Trumbull, said he gets the same reaction whenever he tells customers about the redo. First, it’s exasperation about what’s likely to happen to traffic flow and then it’s, “’There’s no way. They cannot take the bricks.’”

Roberts, who called the reduction to one lane each way a nonstarter for him, pointed to Saginaw Street in Flint to show what he believes might be possible instead. The city of Flint announced last week that the “brick-by-brick” restoration of its main thoroughfare was near completion, ahead of schedule, and the street was expected to reopen this week.

The restoration involved re-laying original bricks dating to 1898. “Any damaged bricks were replaced with bricks from the same era, sourced from an Iowa company that salvages vintage street bricks,” the city said in its announcement.

The Free Press reached out to MDOT to get a better handle on the status of the Michigan Avenue project, billed earlier as an effort not only to make the neighborhood more accessible but also to support “advanced mobility initiatives” to accommodate automated vehicles and maintain the corridor’s “unique and historical feel.” Part of the effort related to automated vehicles had involved a private company called Cavnue.

Work on Michigan Avenue could start next spring

Cockrel, noting that the project now appears to be focused on the streetscape rather than advanced mobility, said the company isn’t involved any longer on Michigan Avenue. Rob Morosi, an MDOT spokesman, 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 connected and automated vehicles corridor pilot project from Belleville to Rawsonville roads. The company has not responded to the Free Press request for comment.

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

It’s not clear whether this is still the case, but a section of the MDOT website focused on Michigan Avenue put the project schedule as spring 2025 to fall 2026 with an estimated cost of $70 million. A $25 million federal grant was also part of the planning. The intent to remove the brick pavers was referenced in a 2022 Free Press story about the awarding of the grant.

Community engagement meetings related to Michigan Avenue appear to date to at least 2019. Roberts indicated that the initial discussions seemed most focused on improvements like bump-outs and adding crossings for pedestrians.

City: Brick use 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 in downtown would be the city’s responsibility, something that Cockrel said points to the need for a coordinated vision.

Roach provided a statement from the city’s chief of infrastructure, Sam Krassenstein:

"The city is starting design work on 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 planned for early September. The city's portion of Michigan Avenue does not contain exposed bricks. We understand the community's attachment to this historic brick pavers farther west in Corktown, however, how they would be reused in the new design would be up to MDOT."

The area that would be redone on Michigan Avenue is a short distance from a section of 14th Street that is being used as a test case 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 wasn't clear whether that remains part of the plan.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com . Become a subscriber . Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters .

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Corktown campaign works to keep Michigan Avenue's historic bricks where they are