Major Detroit project adds half-mile of pathways
Greenway designed to help to connect the community
Detroit dignitaries gathered Wednesday to celebrate and tout the expansion of a decadeslong effort to transform the city by replacing blighted and rundown waterfront industrial sites with walkable pathways and parks.
The plan, championed by a nonprofit and funded with private and public money, is creating a 51⁄2-mile RiverWalk from the MacArthur Bridge at Belle Isle to the Ambassador Bridge to Canada with direct access to it from city neighborhoods.
Wednesday’s event, which included the traditional groundbreaking poses with shovels and dirt, introduced a smaller part of the riverfront effort, what the nonprofit is calling the Southwest Greenway, formerly known as the May Creek Greenway.
It also gave a preview of what to expect on May 10 when many of the same officials are likely to come together again to kick off construction of the 22-acre Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park.
And Ford Motor Co. – through its Michigan Central mobility innovation district – announced a $5 million commitment to conservancy for the greenway.
“I hope everyone is excited about the work that is starting here today,” Mark Wallace, the president and CEO of the conservancy, said. “It a reminder of what we can accomplish together.”
Wallace added that the goal is more than building pathways, it’s also about changing “the way people in Detroit spend time, and change the way people in Detroit interact with each other.”
The greenway, he said, will change the way the community comes together.
The goal is more than building pathways, it’s also about changing “the way people in Detroit spend time, and change the way people in Detroit interact with each other.”
Mark Wallace, president of Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
The greenway is expected to cost $8 million and be completed in the fall.
It will be more than a half-mile long, running from Bagley to Jefferson, and connecting the Detroit riverfront and the future Centennial Park with the Michigan Central mobility innovation district and southwest Detroit.
Groups involved include: the city of Detroit, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Michigan
Central, Michigan DNR and Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, Michigan Department of Transportation and the Walters Family Foundation.
Supporters of the riverfront project – which is turning unsightly spaces in one of the poorest big cities in America into manicured and
beautifully landscaped public areas with parks, plazas and pavilions – have praised it as a valuable use of public and philanthropic funds that helps drive economic development.
They added that the riverfront project annually attracts 3.5 million visitors.
It remained open during the pandemic, and it also has seen a steady increase in use.
In 2018, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation pledged $50 million to the conservancy for the future Centennial Park. The foundation also provided additional financial support for connections to the park.
Wilson, a Ohio native, was raised in the Detroit area. He studied law at the University of Michigan, and is best known as the founder and long-time owner of the Buffalo Bills in New York.
Last year, the riverfront pathway made national headlines as a destination for metro Detroit families – from toddlers to seniors – seeking to get outdoors and enjoy a relaxing bike ride and couples taking romantic strolls.
USA TODAY – a national publication which is owned by the company the also runs the Free Press – identified the riverfront last year in its 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards contest as No. 1 in the nation.
Some are hoping the attraction will be similarly honored again this year.
A few days after being named the nation’s best river walk, the conservancy broke ground on a 31⁄2-mile addition to Belle Isle. The Free Press report noted: “If Detroit is the Paris of the Midwest, then its river walk is the ChampsÉlysées of Detroit.”
“It’s been 20 years we’ve been working on this project,” Cullen said at that event, adding a story about how he brought his son to the site when he was just a boy. “It’s a big day for us.”
In October, the riverfront got some more love when a beaver was spotted.
And as recently as February, the conservancy used the riverfront to bring the Big Easy to Detroit, holding a Mardi Gras event at Valade Park. The event featured beignets, jazz, games and colorful parade floats.
Centennial Park is set to feature a water garden, the William Davidson Sport House with basketball courts, and a garden with a variety of animal structures and large lawn for special events. It is expected to open in 2024.