Little touches decorate Detroit for 2024 NFL draft and beyond

Little touches can be found around Detroit for the 2024 NFL draft to showcase the city and, in some cases, help the hundreds of thousands of football fans coming downtown.

And, they're a double-bonus for the city, its residents and future visitors as all the extras and improvements will be enjoyed after the draft ends Saturday.

Here's a glace at some of the little things (and in some cases, invisible things, such as enhanced free public Wi-Fi and increased cell phone coverage and bandwidth) sprinkled throughout the Motor City for the big event and beyond:

Art, signs

The "DCLEATED" art exhibit will display 20 massive football cleats covered in murals by local artists across downtown, including Ford Field, through the city of Detroit's City Walls program.

The artistic cleats will be auctioned off to charities, with the auction concluding after the draft at a Detroit Medical Center-sponsored event celebrating the artists and charities.

An 8-foot-tall sign spelling "D-E-T-R-O-I-T" is along eastbound I-94, with LED lights to illuminate the letters at night.

The Hollywood-style sign can be found on the drive into Detroit from Detroit Metro Airport.

"Welcome to Detroit" signs sporting a graphic of the city's green and white Spirit of Detroit emblem will be at a handful of other gateways into the city. (These signs are 5 feet high by 7 feet long.):

• Southbound Southfield Freeway at 8 Mile

• Northbound Southfield Freeway at Ford Road

• Southbound I-75 at 8 Mile

• Eastbound I-96 at Telegraph

• Westbound I-94 at Moross

The Downtown Development Authority allocated $5.7 million for five infrastructure projects leading up to the draft, including $500,000 for wayfinding signs to improve navigation for pedestrians and vehicles downtown. The project generally is bounded by the Fisher service drive to the north, Fifth Street to the west, St. Antoine to the east and the Detroit Riverwalk to the south.

A wayfinding sign at Randolph and Monroe streets lists destinations, such as Ford Field, Woodward Avenue, Hart Plaza, Campus Martius Park, the Riverwalk and the entertainment district.

It provides directional arrows to each location and includes other information, including how many minutes it should take to walk to each destination from that spot.

Separately, about $130,000 was to be spent on murals at Detroit People Mover stations and for painting electrical transformer boxes around downtown.

Transit, parking lots

At night, support columns for the Detroit People Mover are expected to be lit up with LED lights.

The displays are to be permanent on the guideway track, with the lighting projecting single or multiple hues to feature themed colors from hometown sports teams, universities, signature brand colors and more.

The 2.9-mile elevated transit system is running for free this year and is one way to navigate downtown during the draft.

Multiple privately-owned downtown Detroit parking lots also were to get spruced up, with funding coming from a portion of taxes paid by downtown property owners within the Downtown Development Authority district. About $900,000 was allocated for this project.

Lot owners will be responsible for maintenance beyond the one-time fund assistance, which includes bollards, planters, trash receptacles, benches, decorative fencing, murals and landscaping.

Infrastructure upgrades

The Downtown Development Authority approved $1.7 million to replace brick pavers on sidewalks along Woodward Avenue from Park Avenue to State Street.

In front of the new Dunkin' on Woodward, there's also smooth concrete on the sidewalk that extends north for a couple blocks.

Other planned investments included $1.3 million toward light pole upgrades, with funding to address repairs for about 1,000 light poles, including repainting, foundation and base replacements, and place-based lighting — such as spotlights or colored displays — in designated downtown areas. Projects already were budgeted, but expedited for the draft.

And about $1.3 million was planned for the Washington Boulevard median between Park and West Lafayette for a redesign with new paving, path lighting and landscaping.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit gets little touches to spruce up city for NFL draft and beyond