On August 11, Michigan transportation officials pressed pause on a plan once billed as a historic opportunity to reconnect Detroit neighborhoods and address one of the city’s deepest wounds. The I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project, a half-billion-dollar effort to replace the sunken freeway with a surface boulevard, will not break ground this year as planned. The Michigan Department of Transportation cited surging costs, concerns about long-term durability, and sustained public opposition as reasons for the delay.

The decision halts a project that has been years in the making. Originally estimated at $300 million, the cost rose to $425 million last year with the inclusion of related I-75 interchange work. MDOT now says inflation in labor and materials has pushed the total above $500 mil

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