Michigan Highways: Route Listings: I-375

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Southern Terminus:	Jefferson Ave halfway between St Antoine St & Beaubien St in Downtown Detroit, at connection with (unsigned) BS I-375
Northern Terminus:	I-75 at Exit 51 (jct Fisher Frwy & Walter P Chrysler Frwy) in Detroit on the northeast side of downtown
Length:	1.147 miles – according to MDOT data 1.06 miles – according to Route Log and Finder List – Interstate Highways, FHWA
Maps:	Route Map of I-375 Proposed I-375 Replacement Boulevard Map (2022) Proposed I-375 Replacement Boulevard—Design Alternative Map (2024)
Notes:	I-375 is known as the southernmost portion of the Walter P Chrysler Frwy for its entire length. I-75 beginning at I-375 and heading northerly out of Detroit carries the Walter P Chrysler name toward Pontiac. The freeway is named, of course, for automobile pioneer Walter P Chrysler, founder of Chrysler.
	I-375 is the shortest Interstate highway in the state, beating both I-194 and I-296 by approximately 2¼ miles.
	In the first decade of the 2000s, planners studied the possibility of extending I-375 south past Jefferson Ave and looping it west around the Renaissance Center—General Motors' worldwide headquarters—to provide better waterfront access to the freeway system, as well as eliminate a very sharp curve in the freeway at Jefferson. General Motors expressed much interest in improving the area around its world headquarters at the Renaissance Center. However, nothing ever came of those freeway expansion plans. Then, in the next decade, with I-375 showing its age and potentially requiring major upgrades or a complete reconstruction, MDOT began studying wether to completely rebuild the freeway from the I-75/Fisher Frwy interchange southerly to Jefferson Ave or to convert some or all of it to an uncontrolled-access, surface boulevard with traffic signals and pedestrian crossings. Proponents of the latter touted the outdated design of the freeway, its high crash rates and supposed pedestrian-unfriendliness, while others pointed out the freeway in its depressed configuration keeps most vehicles away from pedestrians at the surface, increasing the safety factor and allowing for safer transit of vehicles into and out of the downtown core, as they do not mingle with pedestrians or local traffic at street level. The original price tag of reconstructing I-375 was pegged at approximately $80 million in the early-2000s, while the eventual cost of completely removing the freeway and replacing it with a six-lane surface boulevard—the final plan approved by the City of Detroit, MDOT and the Federal Highway Administration—would cost $360 million and be complete in c.2027, the completion was later revised to 2030 or later. Then in 2025 the price tag was pegged at $500 million. The I-375 replacement project would cause the loss of the I-375 designation, create a boulevard in place of the existing freeway, upgrade the existing I-75 Walter P Chrysler/Fisher Freeway interchange and make other area surface street improvements as well. A new boulevard replacing the old freeway is scheduled to remain a state trunkline highway, although no new route designation has been announced. It could potentially be M-375 (most likely), M-175 or BS I-75.
	The half-billion dollar freeway removal plan for I-375, however, was paused in August 2025 due to cost as well as significant "outspoken opposition" from local leaders, members of the African-American community and the local residents most-directly affected by the retention or removal of the freeway spur. One of the more outspoken leaders against the project was Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, who in 2024 wrote in an op-ed in The Detroit Free Press: Today, the proposed redesign of the I-375 corridor is struggling to push the narrative that the new design will help heal the racial wounds of the past with intentional inclusivity that will provide all sorts of benefits to Black people. Please. Are you serious? Show me the evidence, and I mean specifics. Show me the clear and itemized benefits that this project will provide to the Black community, and exactly how it will repair and compensate for the unprecedented damage that was done all those years ago. Don’t paint a pretty picture, just give me the facts. MDOT stated the primary reasoning for the pause was due to budgetary issues due to "labor and material cost increases, pointing to inflation" but also cited community input as well and that, "We have one opportunity to get this project right," according to MDOT Director Bradley C. Wieferich.
	Some sources have stated I-375 was originally intended to be the route of I-75 into downtown Detroit under early proposals. However, the federal government forced Detroit and the State of Michigan to route I-75 further away from the river, so the remnant spur was designated I-375. This would explain why I-75 currently has to make a 90° change from the Fisher Frwy to the Walter P Chrysler Frwy north of downtown.
History:	1964 (June 12) – A new 1.163-mile long state trunkline route from I-75 at the proposed Walter P Chrysler Frwy & Fisher Frwy interchange southerly to Jefferson Ave, then westerly via Jefferson to Randolph St in downtown Detroit is established as a state trunkline, although it wouldn't open to traffic for another five months. The freeway portion of the route, approximately one-mile in length from Jefferson Ave merge (at St Antoine St) northerly to the proposed Fisher Frwy interchange, is designated as I-375, while the remainder of the route via Jefferson Ave from St Antoine St westerly three blocks to Randolph St is designated BS I-375, but likely never signed as such in the field.
	1964 (Nov 25) – The freeway segment of I-375 officially assumed into the trunkline system five months earlier officially opens to traffic from the Jefferson Ave merge (at St Antoine St) northerly to a completed segment of the I-75/W P Chrysler Frwy from Congress St to I-94/Edsel Ford Frwy.
	1968 – A portion of the I-75/Fisher Frwy freeway from the I-75/I-375 "transition" westerly across the north side of downtown Detroit is completed, bringing the odd transition of I-75 into I-375 at the site of the present-day Chrysler/Fisher interchange to an end.
	2020 (Feb) – After four years of study and public engagement in the project to potentially replace exiting I-375 with a surface boulevard with intersections and traffic signals, according to MDOT, "the Technical Team, comprised of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the City of Detroit, and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), met to select the Preferred Alternative. The Preferred Alternative was selected from the four Practical Alternatives presented to the Local Advisory Committee (LAC) and Government Advisory Committee (GAC) in September 2019. ... The screening process focused on criteria developed around the project’s Purpose and Need statement. Through this process, the Technical Team selected Practical Alternative 5B with Direct Lefts as the Preferred Alternative."
	2021 (Mar 29) – MDOT submits a request to eliminate the route of I-375 from the Interstate Highway System to the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) as a consequence of the pending I-375 "Improvement" Project, initially scheduled for completion in 2027, later revised to 2030 or later. The application asks AASHTO to approve the elimination effective 2027 once the project is complete. Specifically, MDOT states "I-375 ... is being removed and replaced with a non-freeway facility. The new roadway, since it will not be a freeway, will no longer support an Interstate designation and will be signed as a state highway."
	2025 (Aug 11) – MDOT issues a press release annoucing a "pause" in the I-375 removal project with reasons including "rising costs, longevity of the final project and roadway, and public concern over design elements." (See Notes section above for details.)
Controlled Access:	The entire length of I-375 is constructed as freeway.
NHS:	The entire length of I-375 is on the National Highway System.
Business Connection:	BS I-375 – Detroit. (Unsigned) From the southern terminus of I-375 westerly via Jefferson Ave to Randolph St (formerly M-3) at the southern terminus of M-10.
Photographs:
Weblinks:	I-375 @ Michigan Highway Ends – photos of the termini of I-375 at Dan Garnell's arcived Michigan Highway Ends website. I-375 Michigan – listing at Kurumi's 3 Digit Interstates website. Downtown Detroit Trunklines Map – PDF map showing the official routings and termini of all state trunklines in downtown Detroit. Many of these termini and some of the trunklines themselves are unsigned, making this map particularly helpful. Interstate 375 Michigan – listing at AARoads' Interstate-Guide. I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project – project website from MDOT. I-375 Improvement Project: A Guide to the Environmental Assessment and Opportunities to Engage – (archived) project brochure from MDOT. I-375 Above-Ground Survey and Impacts Evaluation – from MDOT and prepared in March 2018 by Commonweath Heritage Group, Inc. I-375 Alternatives Study – archived project website from MDOT. "Michigan pauses controversial I-375 changes in Detroit, citing cost and pushback" – article by Dave Boucher in the August 11, 2025 Detroit Free Press. Michigan – Interstate 375 South – Full Length – from You Tube. Detroit \| I-375: Campaign Cities – from the Congress for the New Urbanism.

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