For centuries, Detroit was connected by migratory trails, footpaths and roadways of planks, dirt and bricks. When Woodward Avenue became one of the first paved roads in the world in 1909, asphalt and concrete roads, built in service of the automobile, became the norm — often at the expense of places like Black Bottom. Today, in some cities, those roads are beginning to recede, like the glaciers did before them.

Today, planners, designers and engineers are imagining a new future for the land now occupied by the I-375 freeway. Their discussions began a decade ago, and now include representatives of the neighborhoods and businesses that will write this next chapter in Detroit’s long natural and social history.