Professor Gerd Weitkamp brought three of his spatial development, urban planning and civil engineering students from the University of Groningen (Netherlands, Europe) to Detroit this week. They are studying the challenge of population decline in Detroit and the spatial solutions for this challenge. They report that from an European perspective, redevelopment challenges in the Detroit are different from challenges in Europe, which makes Detroit such an interesting city for spatial development students.
One of the redevelopment projects they were interested in was the Bloody Run Creek Greenway, an urban greening project on which NTH Consultants collaborated. We invited them to come into our office for a talk with the Project Manager on this project, Keith M. Swaffar, P.E., our Executive Chairman.
Keith spoke to the students about the project, the plans and challenges and answered their questions not only about Bloody Run Creek, but also Detroit in general as Keith and NTH have a long history of working on Detroit based projects. The students, Marion Plegt, Martijn de Gruij and Foekje van Schoot, had some great ideas for the city and were very positive about what they have seen and heard about Detroit.
One of the redevelopment projects they were interested in was the Bloody Run Creek Greenway, an urban greening project on which NTH Consultants collaborated. We invited them to come into our office for a talk with the Project Manager on this project, Keith M. Swaffar, P.E., our Executive Chairman.
Keith spoke to the students about the project, the plans and challenges and answered their questions not only about Bloody Run Creek, but also Detroit in general as Keith and NTH have a long history of working on Detroit based projects. The students, Marion Plegt, Martijn de Gruij and Foekje van Schoot, had some great ideas for the city and were very positive about what they have seen and heard about Detroit.
Overview of the Bloody Run Creek GreenWay Redevelopment Project
Historically, the Bloody Run Creek existed immediately north of downtown Detroit and discharged into the Detroit River. The creek’s name stems from a Native American ambush of British soldiers in 1763. The creek originally served as transportation and water supply for the French ribbon farms that lead to settling the area in the 18th century. By the late 19th century, health issues in the city called for sewering the creek; burying it almost entirely in culverts by 1890. Today, only a small reach of the original creek remains, running through the historic Elmwood Cemetery.
Working with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) at the University of Detroit Mercy, NTH lead the initial engineering planning and concept development phases to evaluate the feasibility and engineering requirements associated with “daylighting” the creek to serve as a stimulus for the redevelopment of a large portion of the City’s east side. The conceptual creek alignment shown to the left includes a daylighted creek of over 37,100 lineal feet.
Working with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) at the University of Detroit Mercy, NTH lead the initial engineering planning and concept development phases to evaluate the feasibility and engineering requirements associated with “daylighting” the creek to serve as a stimulus for the redevelopment of a large portion of the City’s east side. The conceptual creek alignment shown to the left includes a daylighted creek of over 37,100 lineal feet.
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