Detroit, MI

MDOT plans to finish diverging diamond interchange at Telegraph/8 Mile Rd. by late fall

Published

2 years ago

July 8, 2024

MDOT plans to finish diverging diamond interchange at Telegraph/8 Mile Rd. by late fall

Starting later this year, motorists on Telegraph Road will notice that as they pass beneath Eight Mile, they’ll be routed to the left side of the roadway before returning to the right side.

This layout is called a diverging diamond interchange. The Michigan Department of Transportation built a series of these interchanges underneath key points on Interstate 75 in Oakland County between 2015 and 2023. And now it’s constructing one on Telegraph (U.S. 24) at the border of Detroit and Southfield.

This $54 million project also involves replacing the pavement on Telegraph between just south of Grand River and just north of Eight Mile, said Bill Erben, the MDOT construction manager overseeing the project. The construction work began in February 2023 and is expected to end in the late fall.

Erben said the pavement on this section of Telegraph and in the Telegraph/Eight Mile interchange was “falling apart” and needed to be reconstructed. They also decided to update the interchange itself. The existing one has free-flowing ramps that allow motorists to get from Telegraph to Eight Mile or vice versa. But because the ramps are “so short,” he said, the driver must pause at a stop or yield sign at the end of the ramp before continuing onto the road.

“We could have just rebuilt the old interchange back to the old, outdated standard,” he said. “We had to upgrade it to a current design standard.”

The new layout, a diverging diamond interchange, is a kind of interchange that temporarily shifts traffic to the oppose side of the road before returning it to the right side. This allow motorists to make free-flowing left turns onto an interstate or main road. Traffic signals control the flow of traffic in these interchanges. Erben said diverging diamonds prevent people from turning left in front of traffic.

In Oakland County, the state built these kind of interchanges off I-75 at 12, 14 and 16 Mile roads. He said he isn’t aware of any diverging diamond interchanges in Metro Detroit that aren’t underneath interstates, so this appears to be the first one. Diane Cross, an MDOT spokesperson, said her agency can only speak to state roads since MDOT doesn’t control county or city roads.

MDOT is also replacing the pavement on Telegraph. The roadway in the interchange will be made of concrete, and Telegraph between Grand River and just south of Eight Mile will be made of asphalt. He said MDOT is about 90% done with installing the asphalt and nearly 50% done with the concrete.

Mario Gjolaj, one of the owners of Omega Coney Island on 8 Mile in Detroit, said people will be confused by the diverging diamond interchange at first, because it’s something they’re unfamiliar with.

“But as they use it, you know, they’ll conform to the design and they’ll obviously see it for what it’s supposed to be,” he said. He is familiar with the diverging diamond at Big Beaver Road and Interstate 75.

Gjolaj said there has been other construction work in his area over the last few years as well. He can’t wait for the projects to be done.

“Because they affect my ability to come and go, and the costumers that I serve are affected by it also,” he added. He said he’s had fewer customers than normal because of the construction.

However, he said Telegraph was “horrible” in the few years leading up to the construction project. He noted that it was choppy and had potholes.

“It’s about time they repaired it,” he said.

asnabes@detroitnews.com

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Detroit, MI

Vigil, protest held for Renee Nicole Good at Detroit’s Clark park

Published

14 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Vigil, protest held for Renee Nicole Good at Detroit’s Clark park

The name Renee Nicole Good bounced off the buildings of southwest Detroit as hundreds marched on the evening of Friday, Jan. 9, following Good’s fatal shooting by an immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier in the week.

A candlelight vigil was held at 6 p.m. at the city’s Clark Park in memory of Good, before attendees took off marching down Vernor Highway.

As of 7:30 p.m., the mass crowd had reached Cavalry Street, about half a mile away from the park, and turned, yelling “What do we want? Justice ” and calling for ICE’s ousting from communities.

Good, 37, was in her car when she was shot in the head on Wednesday, Jan.7, by a federal immigration officer in south Minneapolis. She leaves behind three children, ages 6, 12 and 15.

The shooting was recorded by witnesses and heightened political and community tensions over federal immigration enforcement as part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration operations. The Trump administration has since said the shooting was done in self-defense, USA TODAY reports.

Protests have occurred in cities across the U.S. since Good’s death, including gatherings in Michigan, and additional demonstrations are scheduled throughout the weekend.

This is a developing story.

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Detroit, MI

Debating Mike McDaniel’s fit for Detroit Lions OC job

Published

12 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Debating Mike McDaniel’s fit for Detroit Lions OC job

But we also can’t ignore the drastic fall-off from the Dolphins’ offense. Partially because of injuries to Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill over the past two seasons, the Dolphins have finished 22nd and 25th in scoring offense in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Injuries can be used as an excuse, but the greatest coordinators find a way through the adversity.

Beyond that, there are questions about his philosophical and schematic fit. While the Lions have built their offenses on grit and physicality, McDaniel seems to favor speed and finesse. But maybe that’s exactly what the Lions need. Detroit has two speedy players in Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, who could probably be utilized more creatively, and it’s hard to imagine anyone better than McDaniel to do so.

McDaniel also has a very long coaching history with a lot of different coaching influences and schemes—including his closest coaching guru: Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers head coach has a scheme that is both more congruent with what the Lions do and much more adaptable.

On this EMERGENCY PODCAST, our crew debates the fit of McDaniel in Detroit, along with our thoughts on the Lions’ other known candidate: Commanders quarterbacks coach David Blough.

Before that, Erik Schlitt, Ryan Mathews, and I discuss our biggest takeaways from Lions general manager Brad Holmes’ end-of-season press conference, including the future of David Montgomery, whether Holmes really took accountability for his mistakes, and our confidence in him moving forward.

You can catch our discussion in the embedded podcast below or on any podcasting platform you’d prefer. Just search “Pride of Detroit.”

You can also catch video of the show over on our YouTube pages. Here are the links:

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Detroit, MI

Tarik Skubal, Tigers can’t agree on 2026 salary. Here’s what happens

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Tarik Skubal, Tigers can’t agree on 2026 salary. Here’s what happens

The Detroit Tigers and left-hander Tarik Skubal did not agree to terms on a one-year contract for the 2026 season before the 8 p.m. deadline Thursday, Jan. 8, to exchange salary figures in the arbitration process.

Skubal filed at $32 million; the Tigers filed at $19 million.

It’s a difference of $13 million.

An arbitration panel will review the case during a hearing scheduled for late January or early to mid-February. The arbitrators must determine whether Skubal is worth more or less than the $25.5 million midpoint. If he’s worth more, they will select his $32 million proposal; if less, they will select the Tigers’ $19 million proposal. The panel isn’t allowed to choose a salary in between $19 million and $32 million.

The Tigers operate as a file-and-trial club in salary arbitration under president of baseball operations Scott Harris, meaning there won’t be further negotiations with Skubal regarding a one-year contract. A multi-year contract could still be negotiated, but it’s highly unlikely.

Skubal – represented by agent Scott Boras – reaches free agency after the 2026 season. The 29-year-old is positioned to become the first pitcher in MLB history to receive a $400 million contract.

If the two sides were to reach an agreement before a hearing, it would likely be a one-year contract with a player option, thus maintaining Skubal’s path to free agency in the 2026-27 offseason.

The reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young winner was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to receive $17.8 million in his third and final year of salary arbitration. He previously earned $2.65 million in 2024, then $10.15 million in 2025.

Why couldn’t the Tigers and Skubal agree on a salary for 2026?

The arbitration case for Skubal is unusually complex, thanks to a rarely used provision highlighted by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Because Skubal has more than five years of MLB service time, he isn’t limited to comparing himself only to past arbitration-eligible players. Instead, he can compare himself to any player in baseball.

Those unique rights allow Skubal – who has five years, 114 days of service time – to point to MLB’s highest-paid pitchers (such as Max Scherzer’s $43.3 million per year from 2022-24 or Zack Wheeler’s $42 million per year from 2025-27), arguing that his elite performance warrants a salary in that range – not in the $17.8 million range, as projected by MLB Trade Rumors.

That’s what pushed the Tigers and Skubal to an arbitration hearing.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

The current record for the largest one-year arbitration contract belongs to outfielder Juan Soto, who agreed to $31 million with the New York Yankees for the 2024 season.

If Skubal wins the arbitration hearing, he will surpass Soto and claim the new record with his proposed $32 million salary. If Skubal loses, then he will earn the $19 million salary proposed by the Tigers.

There are two other arbitration records on the line.

The highest-paid arbitration-eligible pitcher belongs to right-hander David Price, who earned $19.75 million with the Tigers in 2015 – his fourth year in the arbitration process as a Super Two qualifier. The largest raise for an arbitration-eligible pitcher belongs to right-hander Jacob deGrom, who surged from $7.4 million to $17 million – an increase of $9.6 million – with the New York Mets in 2019.

Those records for pitchers will belong to Skubal – but only if his proposed $32 million salary is selected by the arbitration panel. He will fall just short of the records if the panel selects the Tigers’ proposed $19 million.

Skubal is the best pitcher in baseball.

More notably, he is on a Hall of Fame trajectory.

In 2025, Skubal registered a 2.21 ERA with 33 walks (4.4% walk rate) and 241 strikeouts (32.2% strikeout rate) across 195⅓ innings in 31 starts. He made the All-Star Game for the second time in his six-year MLB career.

Skubal became the first back-to-back AL Cy Young winner since right-hander Pedro Martínez in 1999-2000, leading the AL with a 2.39 ERA in 2024 and a 2.21 ERA in 2025.

The Tigers haven’t been to an arbitration hearing since right-hander Michael Fulmer in 2019.

Fulmer lost the case, receiving the Tigers’ proposed $2.8 million salary rather than his requested $3.4 million. Before that hearing, the Tigers hadn’t participated in an arbitration hearing since 2001 – and the Tigers haven’t lost a case since 2000.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon during the season and Tuesday afternoon during the offseason on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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