[9] Every year, MDOT conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume.

[11] The area where the freeway was built was called Black Bottom, a historic district that received its name from the soil found there by French explorers.

Black Bottom was one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and, at the time of freeway construction, it had wooden sewers and dilapidated buildings.

These residents could not afford to maintain their homes because of their low income, leading outsiders to view the area as neglected and in need of updating and development.

[13] In the case of the construction of the Chrysler Freeway, some of the most crucial entertainment and cultural communities in Detroit, Black Bottom, and Paradise Valley were destroyed.

[18] The department invited businesses and other groups affected by the potential project to participate in the study in November 2013.

Advocates of the conversion cite increased pedestrian access and an improved connection between Eastern Market and downtown as reasons to remove the freeway.

[23] Both alternatives presented included a four-lane surface boulevard between Gratiot Avenue and Atwater Street.

[24] A refined locally preferred alternative consisting of a boulevard aligned within the southbound lanes of the current freeway was chosen in January 2021.

[26] In November 2021, Governor Gretchen Whitmer requested funding for the project from the United States Department of Transportation under the newly created Reconnecting Communities program.

[27] In March 2022, the Federal Highway Administration returned a finding of no significant impact, allowing the project to enter its design phase.

[2][a] The 2009 traffic surveys by MDOT reported that 33,376 vehicles, including 922 trucks, had used BS I-375 on an average day.