DETROIT — President Joe Biden is scheduled to make a campaign stop in Detroit this Friday, as he works to shore up support amid the fallout from a halting debate performance that’s had some in the Democratic Party calling for him to step down and let someone else run in the 2024 presidential election.

Further specific details about the visit were not immediately available. This will be the fourth visit Mr. Biden makes to Michigan this year.

Mr. Biden has spent a significant amount of time campaigning in the Midwest, as both Michigan and Wisconsin are considered by many pundits to be crucial wins for either candidate, and recent polls show them remaining toss-ups.

Last week, Mr. Biden touched down in Wisconsin, where he continued to brush off concerns about his lackluster performance by insisting he had a cold and that the debate fiasco was simply a “bad night.” He reiterated his commitment to staying in the race against his Republican Party rival, former president Donald Trump.

He also taped an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, which aired in full Friday night. In the interview, Mr. Biden stressed his belief that he has the mental fitness to remain in the presidential race and lead the nation for four more years.

On Monday, Mr. Biden sent a letter to congressional Democrats saying that he is “firmly committed” to staying in the race.

Mr. Biden’s most recent visit up to this point was in May, when he attended the Detroit NAACP’s annual dinner. Mr. Biden accepted the organization’s invitation to give the keynote address and thank members because the Black vote helped get him elected.

At that event, Mr. Biden said Trump is running a campaign fuelled by revenge.

“You can’t build a future on revenge. You can’t build better lives through revenge. That’s why I’m running to lead America to the future,” he said.

Trump responded in a recent trip to the battleground state of Michigan, hosting an afternoon roundtable at an African American church in Detroit and claiming Biden has been the “worst president for Black people.”

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

It’s always fun to see former Wolverine greats play professional ball in the state of Michigan, and fans in Ann Arbor and Detroit will get to see another one during the 2024-25 NBA season.

Former Michigan men’s basketball star Tim Hardaway Jr. will continue his career with the Detroit Pistons, who traded for the sharpshooting wing and three second-round draft picks from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Quinten Grimes back on June 28.

On Saturday, the Pistons welcomed Hardaway Jr. home with a tribute video on social media. The former Wolverine can be seen arriving in a maize and blue No. 2 jersey, which appears to be an homage to Michigan legendary cornerback Charles Woodson (though it could represent current Wolverine star Will Johnson as well).

At Michigan, Hardaway Jr. is best known as the running mate of fellow backcourt star Trey Burke, who led the Wolverines to the 2013 Final Four and national championship game. That season, Hardaway Jr. averaged 14.5 points per game while shooting 43.7% from the field and 37.4% from the 3-point line. He added 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as well, in a season in which he was named first team All-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches and second team All-Big Ten by the media.

During his career at Michigan, Hardaway Jr. scored 1,532 points (14.3 per game), grabbed 440 rebounds (4.1 per game), handed out 225 assists (2.1 per game) and added 76 steals (0.7 per game) and 33 blocked shots. He was a unanimous third team All-Big Ten selection as a sophomore in 2011-12, and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten as a freshman the season prior. Hardaway Jr. was a unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman team selection in 2010-11, a season in which he set Michigan’s freshman single-season record for 3-pointers made with 76. That record was later broken by Nik Stauskas in 2012-13.

Hardaway Jr. is one of the most beloved Michigan players of the past 15 years. Not only did he help the Wolverines to a national runner-up finish and the program’s first Final Four since the days of the Fab Five in his final season in Ann Arbor, Hardaway Jr. and Burke led Michigan to a share of a Big Ten regular season championship the year prior. The three-year Wolverine dazzled fans with his shooting ability, but brought the Crisler Center crowd to its feet with several highlight-reel dunks during his career.

During his 12-year NBA career, Hardaway Jr. has averaged 14 points per game while shooting 41.8% from the field, 36% from the 3-point line and 81.2% from the free throw line. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder adds 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

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