You will soon notice a new splash of colour on the new road bridges as part of the Michigan Interchange for the Gordie Howe International Bridge project.
This fall, crews are planting shrubs, grasses and herbaceous plants on the four road bridges built over Interstate-75. The road bridges are located at Green Street, Clark Street, Springwells Street and Livernois Avenue.
Cement planters were installed on the bridges earlier this year, which serve as barriers between the pedestrian/cyclist lanes and the roadway.
The planters will contain 20 different plants in various sizes, forms, textures and seasonal colors to create a visually pleasing landscape.
The shrubs include cranberry cotoneaster, common juniper, shrubby cinquefoil, fragrant sumac and alpine currant while the grasses include bottlebrush grass, blue oat grass, fountain grass, little bluestem and prairie dropseed. The herbaceous plants are moonshine yarrow, common bearberry, white sage, New England aster, wild columbine, “Becky” shasta daisy, blazing star, American mountain mint, black-eyed Susan and spiderwort.
The project team chose these plants because of their status as native species, the benefits biodiversity brings to the environment and the low maintenance they require in the future.
