Restore 94 is a recent Michigan Department of Transportation project that aims to rebuild nearly 13 miles of I-94.

MDOT’s Media Representative for the Metro Region, Diane Cross, says the project requires tree removal for full reconstruction of the Ecorse interchange. 

Cross explains, “Currently, traffic comes in on the left, which is very unusual and it’s a very old style. We are going to bring that up to current industry standards… That involves rebuilding I-94 through a large, wooded median near Ecorse Road.”

MDOT already owned the patch of land where these trees were located. Cross says their plan for construction is the most time and cost effective. 

There are plans to replant trees around the new roadways once construction is finished, says Cross.  

“Obviously they’re not the same mature age and probably number of what we’re removing—that is a large, wooded area that has not been touched for fifty years or so—but that is now where we’re going to move the freeway through, which will make it much safer for drivers.”

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

Part of the affordability crisis hitting American families is happening on our plates.

One local wholesale distributor says multiple factors are driving food costs up: President Trump’s tariffs, labor shortages and heightened immigration enforcement, and problems in the trucking industry. And all of that hits Detroit harder than most places. Many Detroit families struggle with food insecurity, and Congress just gutted the federal safety net that millions of families depend on.

Still, whether prices go up because of a tariff or a drought or a trucker shortage — if you don’t control any part of the system, you just absorb the hit. You are at the end of a chain somebody else built and no food pantry, no matter how well-run, changes that.

Natosha Tallman says the answer is not more charity — it’s infrastructure: commercial kitchens, cold storage, distribution, ownership. A system where Detroiters grow food, process it, sell it, and keep the money. 

Tallman and her team at the Northend Christian Community Development Corporation, which runs the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm, are trying to build that infrastructure. She joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss what it takes to move from a system focused on food charity to one of food sovereignty.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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Michigan’s bitterly cold winter has many staring down high energy bills — the highest in the Midwest. These rising costs have kept utilities on people’s minds.

Some recent headlines have, too.

Last week, a federal judge fined DTE Energy $100 million for polluting the air around Zug Island.

DTE Energy said in a prepared statement it is “extremely disappointed in the court’s ruling and its negative implications on the domestic supply of coke to the U.S. steel industry.” The company said it plans to appeal to the 6th Circuit Court and maintains it “has been operating within the limits of the valid original state permit – both today and during the time period in question.”

Two days later, state regulators approved another rate hike for DTE — a $242.4 million increase that will add roughly $4.93 to the average residential monthly bill starting March 5. DTE said the investment is delivering results, pointing to what it called its most reliable year in nearly two decades.

“Since 2021, DTE’s electric bill growth has been among the lowest in the country compared to other states,” said Matt Paul, president and chief operating officer of DTE Electric. “Our actual bills remain below the Great Lakes region and national averages.”

“A never-ending cycle”

That same week, DTE posted over $1.5 billion in operating earnings — more than $100 million higher than the year before. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the pattern “a never-ending cycle of rate hikes.” She said the system should be questioned when a utility projects record profits while asking customers to pay more.

In other energy and environmental news, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on the future of Line 5 — the 73-year-old oil pipeline running through the Straits of Mackinac. 

Meanwhile, communities across the state are in revolt over data centers that could consume more electricity than entire cities. DTE has said that data center contracts are separate and that residential customers will not subsidize their rates.

So given all this, today we’re asking: who is in charge of utility costs and safety in Michigan? And when things go wrong, who is accountable? Nick Schroek has some answers. He is dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, a leading expert in environmental law, and served as a special assistant prosecutor during the Flint Water Crisis. He joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro.

Editor’s Note: DTE Energy is a WDET sponsor.

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The price of water has been steadily rising in Southeast Michigan. Now, one of the steepest rate increases in the Great Lakes Water Authority’s decade-long history is up for a vote.

GLWA is proposing roughly a 7% water rate hike and a 6% sewer rate hike for the fiscal year starting July 1 — the second straight year exceeding the 4% cap the authority held for its first decade. GLWA says the money is needed to replace aging infrastructure: 83.6 miles of transmission main are past their useful life, and the system is largely funded by ratepayers.

At the authority’s January board meeting, residents pushed back. A GLWA representative acknowledged that 155,000 Detroiters are already enrolled in water assistance programs, roughly one in four residents.

Noah Kincade, who leads Detroit Documenters for Outlier Media, joined Robyn Vincent to break down what’s driving the increase, how rates are set, and what residents can do.

Listen to the full conversation above.

How to get involved

Residents can contact state lawmakers about Senate Bills 248–256, which address water affordability, or call We the People of Detroit’s water hotline at 1-844-429-2837. The GLWA board holds its public hearing and vote on Feb. 25 at the Water Board Building (735 Randolph St., Detroit) and via Zoom. Last year, public testimony led the board to reduce its proposed hike before the final vote.

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The Michigan Department of Transportation has big plans for I-94 in western Wayne County. 

Crews will rebuild and repair the freeway between I-275 and Michigan Ave. at the Detroit-Dearborn city limits. 

MDOT project engineer Bill Erben says the work will start with clearing shoulders and medians in February. Erben says that includes removing some trees.

“For every tree that we cut, we replace trees at the end,” he says.

February weather is notoriously unpredictable, so the timing is important—especially for wildlife.

“There’s a prohibition on cutting trees during the season that’s conducive to bats mating,” Erben says. “So, we have to get the tree removal done from an environmental standpoint.”

Reconstruction and rehabilitation

Erben says the Restore 94 project has two main components—rebuilding and repairing.

“We start just to the east of Wayne Road and it’s all-new pavement through Beech Daly,” he says. “And then there’s significant section of pavement on westbound 94 from Southfield to the [Ford] Rouge [complex] that will get replaced as well.”

Between I-275 and Michigan Ave., MDOT will install five new bridges and create a new interchange at Ecorse Rd.

Spokesperson Diane Cross says drivers will have access to Metro Airport at all times.

“Drivers will always have I-275, which we redid in the last couple of years,” she says. “If we’re working at Merriman Rd., we’ll make sure Middle Belt Rd. is open and vice versa.”

Getting around it won’t be easy

MDOT plans to shift traffic from one side of the freeway to the other, starting with the westbound lanes. That will reduce traffic from six lanes to four. Erben says the goal is to keep traffic moving on 94 throughout the project.

“There will be local detours, but the bulk of the project is to try to maintain traffic on the freeway,” he says. “We’ll have temporary ramps that will carry traffic from one side to the other.”

The three-year project will affect homes and businesses along 94 in Allen Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Melvindale, Romulus and Taylor. That includes the Ford Rouge complex.

Erben says he’s listening to stakeholders. “We’ve met with Ford already, we’ve met with the mayor of Taylor,” he says. “We’re going to do whatever we can to keep that line of communication open.”

Toward that end, MDOT has two public meetings on the project. The first takes place at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 at the Allen Park Department of Public Services on West Outer Drive. The second happens at 4 p.m. on Feb. 11 at Taylor City Hall on Goddard. 

The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor is nearly open, and its community benefits process is winding down.

The bridge will create a second international crossing between Detroit and Windsor-Essex and has been in the works for years. It was first proposed in the early 2000s and the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority was created in 2012. In 2019, a Community Benefits Plan was published by the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority. 

Residents on both sides of the border, including Delray in Detroit and Sandwich in Windsor, were engaged through a number of meetings and an advisory council was assembled. The report highlights key issues raised by community members:

• Workforce development
• Landscaping and aesthetics
• Construction effects
• Community safety 
• Economic development opportunities

Heather Grondin is the Chief Relations Officer for the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority. She joined The Metro to look at what community benefits were delivered for residents of Delray on the Detroit side, and Sandwich on the Windsor side.

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The Great Lakes Water Authority has started building a new tunnel in southwest Detroit. The project will divert excess stormwater from a large sewer line along the Rouge River to a retention and treatment basin nearby.

Potential to address a longstanding problem

GLWA Chief Operating Officer Navid Mehram says the tunnel will reduce the risk of flooding. Additionally, it should mean fewer basement sewage backups during heavy rain. “We’re making an investment in our existing system by rerouting some flows, so that we can leverage an existing facility that wasn’t receiving all the flow it can treat,” Mehram says.

The tunnel will be almost 4,000 feet long and several feet wide. Nehram says GLWA expects to finish the job in 2028. “Our projects are very large,” he says. “This is a tunneling project, which is extremely complicated.” Besides reducing sewage backups, Mehram says the project will also make the system more resilient to heavy rain. “This not only provides us with water quality improvements along the Rouge River, but it can also provide a backup for our Water Resource Recovery Facility,” he says.

Who’s paying for it?

The project will cost $87 million. Mehram says GLWA will use both government grants and sewer rate revenues to pay for it. He says it will not increase customers’ bills.