ROMULUS, Mich. – Drivers traveling along Interstate 94 coming from Detroit Metro Airport might have noticed a stark change in the landscape. A lot of trees were cleared from the median.
One Local 4 viewer wrote us, concerned about the apparent loss of “thousands” of trees, the piles of logs and stumps now visible from the freeway, and what would happen to the deer that had long lived there.
In response, Local 4 visited the site with Diane Cross from the Michigan Department of Transportation. She said the tree removal is part of its long-term Restore 94 project and is primarily about safety and rebuilding the aging freeway. A freeway she said over 100,000 drivers use daily.
The work covers a stretch of I-94 from I-275 to Michigan Avenue at the Dearborn–Detroit border. MDOT is “rebuilding part of the freeway totally down to the dirt,” said Diane Cross, a communications representative for the agency. “ And here in the area Inkster and Ecorse we are moving the freeway through this wooded area.”
To make room for that reconstruction and realignment, MDOT has cut down hundreds of trees in the area. Cross said the agency plans to replace the lost trees.
“We are putting back 3,000 trees once the project is done,” Cross said. “They will be along the outside lanes because we want the trees to help absorb the fumes coming off the freeway and help with noise, that kind of thing.”
Cross acknowledged that residents are also worried about wildlife, especially deer that were often seen in the now-cleared area. She said MDOT is not aware of any increase in deer-related crashes since the work began and noted that engineers are considering wildlife behavior as they plan the new landscape.
According to Cross, the placement of the replacement trees is intended, in part, to discourage a large deer population from reestablishing itself immediately next to the roadway.
She also mentioned there are signs on the roadway asking drivers to be careful of the potential deer.
MDOT said drivers should not expect additional major changes to the highway configuration for the next few months. After that, traffic will be shifted so vehicles in both directions use the westbound side of I-94, with two lanes open each way during that phase of construction.