The Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project has been going on for a long time now. For… I’m not sure how long. A couple years at least. Last Spring they started the biggest phase of construction: All of I-75 is closed in both directions near the bridge and will be until at least December 2009. Given that I live south of the city and that’s the way I take to work it’s been a bit inconvenient.

But I thought about it then and like I so often try to do I decided to look at the good aspects of it. This provides a good opportunity to explore some parts of the city that I haven’t been to much. And so despite the extra traffic and time I’ve basically been able to enjoy the fact that I can’t just hop straight on the highway from downtown and get to explore some of the other neighborhoods.

Model D did a feature on topic. But why stop there with just exploring the detour? Victoria (aka @typeis4lovers) clued me in recently via Twitter to this awesome Detroit design guide over at Design*Sponge. I can happily say I’ve been to most places on that list (given that I enjoy the city so much I guess that’s expected) but I haven’t checked them all out and that list is far from complete. Detroit is such a unique and interesting city. It evokes a lot emotions; many good, some bad. It’s good to keep in mind that every day is a chance to explore and learn something new about it.

I’ll be happy when I can shave ten minutes off my drive in to work every morning, though.