DETROIT – Expect the freeways to be cleaner now that the city will be responsible for freeway cleanup within the limits of Detroit.
A $650,000 agreement has been made with MDOT that will allow the city to take matters into its own hands.
“We live here, and it didn’t matter to me whose jurisdiction it was in, the state, the county, or the city,” said Councilwoman Angela Whitfield Calloway. “As a city and city resident, we wanted the area cleaned up.”
Calloway is rejoicing in the deal. Just recently, it took her, along with 21 volunteers, five hours to clean up all the trash on the sides of just one major freeway.
“Forty bags of trash,” Calloway said. “Just in those two areas. I could not believe the amount of trash that was accumulating on those ramps.”
The city is looking for independent crews that can handle the work; Because of the age of some of these freeways, it’s going take a certain amount of skill to maintain.
“These slopes in a lot of areas, especially on I-94 as an old freeway, the slopes are very steep, and they’re dangerous,” said Services and Infrastructure Group Executive Brad Dick. “So, we have to have specialized people with specialized equipment.”
A beautification process is also on the way that will make way for about four tons of carbon removal over a lifetime.
“We’re going to be planting this spring between Wyoming rough of the I-96 area, about 1,100 trees, and 2,000 shrubs,” Dick said. “The idea of what we’re aiming for is visual and air quality improvements.”
“I’m excited about that,” Calloway said. “Somebody took notice of our effort.”
You can expect these changes to play out over the next few months.
