Detroit Pledges Investments to Local Shopping Areas

In an astounding $125-million project, Detroit Mayor—Mike Duggan—pledges to rejuvenate commercial strips throughout specific target areas of Detroit.

The project was put before the city council on Thursday, with finalized plans being submitted within two weeks. The plan proposes to sell a substantial amount of bond funds owned by the city in order to fund the revitalization. According to Mayor Duggan’s alleged proposal, $80 million of the funds would be put toward much-needed infrastructure improvements, while the remaining $45 million would be put toward correcting and repairing issues across over 300 miles of city roads and broken sidewalks.

The $80 million infrastructure improvements would be targeted in four main areas—Livernois, McNichols, West Vernor, and East Warren.

In order to create a more appealing design to the commercial corridors, landscaping will be included in the proposal. To produce a better flow to the area, traffic-lane reconfiguration will be implemented to create bike lanes, street parking, and wider sidewalks.

“Using these bond funds, we are going to revitalize many of our neighborhood commercial corridors to create vibrant, attractive districts so Detroiters have a place to shop in their own neighborhood,” said Mayor Duggan in a press release in early October.

Duggan believes by implementing this plan, it will prevent Detroiters from driving outside of the city’s underdeveloped business districts to shop elsewhere.

While this proposal is the only one to have been submitted thus far, Duggan isn’t planning to stop short. This program is included in a much larger endeavor which will cost approximately $317-million and is said to improve over 300 miles of major roads, residential streets, and commercial zones.

The sales of the bonds would not be reimbursed by the city’s general funds, rather repayment would come from increased revenues in state gas taxes and vehicle registration fees.

News & Image Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2017/10/detroit_to_invest_125m_in_road.html