The Michigan Department of Transportation has taken the first step toward launching a revised modernization project for I-94 in Detroit.

The project would include reconstruction of a 6.7-mile segment of freeway just east of the I-94/I-96 interchange to east of Conner Avenue. The plan also calls for constructing an additional through-lane in each direction of the freeway, replacing more than 60 bridges and modernizing the interchanges at I-75 and M-10, MDOT said in a Tuesday news release.

A Notice of Intent is being published in the Federal Register, signaling MDOT's intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the modernization of the freeway, it said.

Talks of modernizing the freeway started in the 1990s but were never realized due to financial strains and shifting of expectations of the city and community, said Rob Morosi, communications specialist for MDOT.

In 2004, the modernization plan was approved by the Federal Highway Administration, which would cover around 80 percent of the project cost, Morosi said. In 2015, MDOT realized through community outreach and city collaboration that the original plan was out of date.

"What we've heard is that Detroit has changed," Morosi said. "(Now there is) a lot of focus on different modes of transportation. What was approved 10 years ago doesn't fit into what the city and residents want to see in terms of transportation options."

Those new transportation options, in addition to an emphasis on neighborhood connectivity, led MDOT to revise its plan and focus on staying within the original footprint of I-94, Morosi said.

MDOT's Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement — step one in the official documentation process for approval from the FHA — addresses using existing roads as service drives and interchanges for the city's freeways.

Morosi said he doesn't see the modernization project hitting any more major speedbumps and expects groundbreaking of the project by 2020 or 2021. In the meantime, he said, bridges will continue to be repaired. The overpasses at Van Dyke, Woodward and Trumbull — included in the 60 listed in the modernization plan — already have been repaired, Morosi said.

MDOT plans to continue collaboration with the city's development department, as well as community outreach through open houses, public forums and neighborhood canvasing, Morosi said. Following publication of the environmental impact statement, MDOT will schedule a public hearing. Details will be announced through the project's website.