$1.4B Windsor highway could set tone for new bridge

As southwest Detroit prepares for construction of the Gordie Howe bridge to Canada, community leaders have taken notice of a new $1.4-billion highway in Windsor that they hope can be a model for similar improvements in Detroit.

The Herb Gray Parkway, portions of which opened this summer, will connect the Gordie Howe International Bridge to Windsor’s Highway 401. Of particular interest to Detroit community advocates, the new 7-mile Canadian parkway also includes more than 12 miles of recreational trails and noise mitigation measures.

Similar amenities would be welcome in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood, where a $250-million to $300-million customs plaza will be built for the Gordie Howe bridge. Residents there already deal with pollution and noise from nearby factories and a constant flow of truck traffic.

Diana Selz, who has lived in Delray for about 25 years, said more than 100 trucks pass her house near Livernois Avenue and West Jefferson Avenue every day. "They shake the house," she said.

Selz expects the Gordie Howe bridge to increase truck traffic. A recent study estimated truck traffic to grow at a rate of 2.5% per year.

“The truck traffic is going to be enormous,” Selz said. “These people are going to go out of their mind.”

Last week, Delray community advocates discussed pollution and noise protections with officials from the state and the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, the Canadian entity overseeing the bridge’s construction, which is scheduled to be finished in 2020.

Gregg Ward, of the Delray Community Advisory Group, said the Herb Gray Parkway is a model for improvements to the Delray neighborhood.

“The Canadians have done a stellar job safeguarding the health and well-being of those who are impacted by the Parkway construction and traffic,” Ward said. “It only makes sense to equally protect the health and safety of the Delray host community.”

The hope, Ward said, is that requirements for community improvements in Delray are written into the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority's contract with a private-sector partner to design and build the $2-billion bridge. A request for proposals for the contract is expected to be issued later this year.

More than 300 acres of green space and recreational trails were added to the Herb Gray Parkway corridor to address quality of life concerns. In addition to a sound barrier, the green space and trails help protect residents from noise and pollution by creating distance from the traffic.

Ward, of the Delray community group, said he doesn't expect the exact same amenities in Detroit. But Delray residents should be shown similar respect, he said.

“We’re just trying to get a commitment that, in principle, we’re going to be treated in the same manner,” Ward said.

The Michigan Department of Transportation and state officials are working with Delray community leaders to identify the appropriate ways to address noise and pollution concerns. MDOT also is helping to obtain and implement grants to limit diesel emissions in southwest Detroit, according to the department. Hazardous diesel fumes from truck traffic has long plagued Delray.

“We are in open communications with the neighborhood and will have ongoing discussions about all these things,” MDOT spokesman Jeffrey Cranson said.

Heather Grondin, of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, said in a statement that the authority wants to be a good neighbor and is "working with interested parties on both sides of the border to identify areas of concern."

If building Canada's Herb Gray Parkway is any indication, setting up similar improvements in Detroit will take time.

Planning of the parkway goes back to 2008 and it involved environmental impact studies, over 300 public meetings and a thorough procurement process, according to officials.

Once the Gordie Howe bridge is open, the new parkway is expected to improve cross-border traffic by connecting Highway 401 to the U.S. Interstate system. The parkway also will separate local and international traffic and replace the need to traverse stop-and-go driving routes in residential areas of Windsor.

Contact Joe Guillen: 313-222-6678 or jguillen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joeguillen.