The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which opened last month, creates the first direct highway-to-highway link between Ontario’s Highway 401 and Michigan’s I-75, enabling up to 26,500 vehicles to cross daily.
The span may help relieve international gridlock, but for the residents of Detroit neighborhoods near the bridge, like Delray, it is part of a much larger story — one shaped by long-standing concerns about health and quality of life.
“They’ve had to advocate for themselves starting when I-75 construction disrupted their way of life because the highway was constructed in the middle of their deeply rooted communities starting in the 1960s,” says Natalie Sampson, a professor of public health in the College of Education, Health and Human Services. “These neighborhoods noticed how their own residents were affected and advocated for cleaner air, safer streets and better health.”
With the construction and opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, Southwest Detroit residents found themselves at another crossroads. So they looked for ways to document their neighbors’ experiences, identify needed resources and help shape policies and programs that support community health. As part of this effort, Southwest Detroit leaders and residents who live near the bridge are working with community leaders and public health experts — including Sampson — to conduct the Gordie Howe International Bridge Health Impact Assessment. The ongoing study assesses health, households and neighborhoods in Southwest Detroit before, during and after bridge construction.
“It’s important to have data that shows how people are directly affected. Otherwise their stories get lost in the overall narrative of progress,” says Sampson, who notes that asthma rates for children are 6.7% nationally but 20.4% in Detroit. “Even during the construction phase, we see even higher numbers for people who live within 500 feet of the bridge,” she adds.
Sampson, who recently started a new role as assistant vice provost for sustainability education and curricular education at UM-Ann Arbor, acknowledges the benefits of the new bridge, which helps move roughly $300 billion of goods annually between the U.S. and Canada. She spoke with Reporter about what residents near the bridge are experiencing, and ways to make health and community well-being a more intentional part of infrastructure planning.
What is the purpose of the Health Impact Assessment?
People in power often only do what policies require. When it became known that the bridge’s plaza was going to land right in the middle of the Delray neighborhood, residents noticed that initial plans dismissed local neighborhood impacts.
Required assessments – like those required by the National Environmental Policy Act — looked at regional traffic improvements rather than neighborhood-level harm. Southwest Detroit residents advocated for their community health and well-being to be considered. This is why the Health Impact Assessment, which is managed by the Detroit Health Department, even exists.
I think a lot of folks know the impacts. They feel them. They live them. Their stories and experiences are an important part of understanding what’s happening in the community. Data doesn’t replace those experiences — it helps us document them, understand patterns and make the case for the resources and policy changes residents have been asking for. It gives community members another tool to bring to city council, state leadership and other decision-makers.
What are some of the health impacts people are experiencing?
Hundreds of households have voluntarily participated in the HIA survey and we are seeing that respiratory problems are common across age groups.
Childhood asthma rates near heavily trafficked roadways were 63% higher than for children living farther from those roadways within the bridge area. It also shows chronic conditions are common among older adults. All of these were at rates higher than state and national averages — and that was at the construction phase. We are currently collecting more information now that the bridge is complete.
Construction has been happening for several years and residents shared with us that their top concerns include outdoor air pollution from trucks and industry, road dust, truck traffic on residential streets, vibrations from truck and construction activity damaging property, and clogged sewers and standing water.
Detroit is already ranked among U.S. and global cities with the worst air quality and the most challenging place to live with asthma and we expect that things will get worse with the increased truck traffic.
Are all the health concerns related to air quality?
No, it's not just breathing issues. Residents are also affected by the noise. Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents said noise during the day was very much or somewhat of a concern and 63% of survey respondents said noise during sleeping hours was very much or somewhat of a concern. There’s a constant hum of traffic and people are having a hard time sleeping.
Not getting enough sleep harms your brain, heart and immune system. Over time, chronic sleep loss raises the risk of serious health problems like diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. There’s also the mental health aspect of this too. So it’s not just our lungs — it’s everything.”
If people are concerned with the health impacts in their neighborhoods, can they relocate?
Some people have relocated. A voluntary home-swap program was established to allow some homeowners — people living in Delray and within 150 feet of the expanded I-75 service drive — to trade their property deed for a renovated Detroit Land Bank house. But relocation remains a complex process. That program takes up to a year and you need to meet certain requirements.
There are financial barriers too. For people who don’t meet those requirements, selling a home located directly in or across from a heavy industrialized area — now with a new bridge and plaza — does not generate enough value to purchase a comparable home elsewhere.
People are also staying because it is their community. More than 80% of surveyed residents report a strong sense of trust, safety and belonging in their neighborhood, which makes relocation emotionally and socially difficult. Their families are here. They grew up here. This is home. I think that’s something that most of us can understand.
What are some of the mitigation measures implemented because of the report?
The HIA recommends evidence-based actions to reduce harm during construction and bridge operations.
HIA-related work includes establishing and enforcing local ordinances, like Detroit’s fugitive dust ordinance; financially supporting programs to better equip residents’ homes, including indoor air filtration, HVAC system upgrades, window sealing and overall home repair, and monitoring air quality and tracking health metrics over time.
We are doing some reactive work now, but that doesn’t mean the community has been reactive. Southwest Detroit residents and organizations — like the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition and Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, who are visionaries for this HIA work — have been raising these concerns and advocating for their neighborhoods for decades. What we’re seeing now is an opportunity to build on that work and make sure the lessons from this project inform what happens next.
Research shows that to reduce health impacts of pollution, there should be a 1,500-foot buffer between households or schools and pollution sources. Roadside vegetation — at the right height and thickness — can reduce downwind air pollution. And, on the Canadian side, planners put in more trees and green spaces to help with air filtration and beautify the area near their bridge plaza.
There's no reason we should ever design infrastructure or come into a community and make massive changes without considering community well-being and health. The hope is that our government leaders consider what we’ve learned from our Southwest Detroit neighbors and will build in additional public health-focused policies when making decisions.
Interview by Sarah Tuxbury
