If "We Are All Detroit," then Woodward Avenue Is Everyroad

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't think anyone is saying that wide streets are the primary reason Detroit doesn't have much street-level vitality, just that it isn't helpful on the main arterials.

Woodward was widened north of downtown Detroit in 1936. The 1930's are really when the core parts of Detroit started stagnating/declining. Of course it took decades till that corridor was in really bad shape, but white flight (in the inner core) was already in full swing and areas like Brush Park and Cass Corridor were seedy, transient areas. Depopulation didn't happen till after 1967, really, but the auto-driving, affluent types were already abandoning the core SFH areas. Even Boston Edison was suffering.

That's correlation. The widening of Woodward isn't what caused the decline and depopulation, but the widening of Woodward did correspond to a general movement towards autocentric first policy that devastated Detroit. In terms of things that detract away from the urbanity of Detroit, the width of Woodward ranks pretty close to the bottom, IMO.

But Woodward really isn't that wide. It's not even as wide as wide as Houston or Delancey Streets in Manhattan. There's no reason why it can't be part of a more pedestrian friendly Detroit at its current width.

[Steely Dan]

at 120' wide, building wall to building wall, woodward south of mcnichols really isn't all that egregiously wide. yeah, it's a big wide street, but most american cities have some big wide streets of that caliber cutting through them.

the main issue with woodward is that too much of the ROW is given over to car traffic, which can make it feel less friendly to cross as a pedestrian.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3448...7i16384!8i8192



as an example of what can be done to improve wide streets, here's division street, a wide street in chicago, with a 100' building wall to building wall width, but car traffic is reduced to only 1 lane in each direction, then bike lanes, and then a parking lane, which allows for deeper sidewalks that provide ample space for large tree planting areas and more substantial sidewalk cafes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9033...7i16384!8i8192

[forward looking]

Detroit is in ruins. TO think that it is on its' way back is not evolutionary it is absurdity. There is too much inner city decay, I have never sen anything to equal this, anyplace- in this, country.
There is so much pollution and infrastructure in decay and crumbling ruins that "Detroit" would have to think of as revolutionary an idea in transportation as the Model T was , and so become once again the - center of the World's manufacturing which it was. A very long time ago.
We've been on a downhill run for a long time. If there is one thing Detroit is good at- it is down sizing and offshore manufacturing.
The re-development of the Ancient Train Depot by Ford is a very great thing. I remain optimistic yet, but only cautiously. Even reluctantly. One must be realistic while at the same time optimistic.
One cannot pretend while driving around Detroit's inner city with open eyes
and state that it is once again making a comeback. These developments are miniscule.
Time magazine performed a year long study of Detroit which was published and completed about a year ago. IT was damn good reading too. the study was published periodically over a one year span of time, every three months. The results were that inner city Detroit will change so much that we would not even recognize it. It will be mostly farmland with the downtown core still there by the year 2121.
Some neighborhoods will remain standing.

I would like to think not, but on the other hand part of me says.... probably.

Originally Posted by deja vu

If there's one thing Detroit is getting good at, it's turning challenges into opportunities. You might call it evolving. The article doesn't tell the whole story - it ends the narrative in 2013. A lot has happened in 8 years. I could see light rail that has begun downtown being extended along the middle of Woodward to Ferndale one day. Or at least BRT, or dedicated bike lanes, etc.

Forbes just named Michigan the workplace of the future. With young talent coming back to Detroit and developments flourishing, the city might be glad it kept all of its massive avenues.

[The North One]

Troll

[forward looking]

Nah, just an open eyes, realistic resident of the D.

Originally Posted by The North One

Troll

[Doady]

It is true that Detroit's "inner city" is in bad shape, but that's not what this thread is about. People here are not discussing every one of those decayed neighbourhoods throughout Detroit's huge "inner city", they have been discussing only one corridor in particular, the Woodward Avenue corridor, and they have expressed criticism and skepticism too. No one is suggesting the entire inner city is going to be redeveloped and revitalized and that 1.1 million people moving back into all those neighbourhoods anytime soon. You have open eyes? Maybe open them a little wider.