LANSING – Three miles of westbound I-94 in Wayne and Washtenaw counties are already set up for connected and automated vehicles.

Now the Department of Transportation wants public feedback on the proposed project, which would include almost 40 miles of I-94 if completed.

It’s proposed to eventually span about 39 miles between Ann Arbor and Detroit.

The lane would be reserved for connected and automated vehicles, or CAVs for short. Connected vehicles aren’t quite driving themselves yet, but they’re equipped to talk to other vehicles.

The department is assessing the project’s impact on the environment and communities around it. It has released an 80-page environmental assessment report. That includes a summary of proposed plans to mitigate potential adverse impacts from the project.

Anyone is welcome to provide feedback, said Michele Mueller, who oversees connected and automated driving technologies at MDOT.

“It can be commuting traffic, it can be people who live in the area, people who have businesses in the area,” she said. “It’s wide open.”

If completed, the project would improve safety and decrease congestion along the heavily-traveled stretch of I-94 between Ann Arbor and Detroit, Mueller said. That’s because the technology used in automated cars reacts faster than a human driver, she said.

That may not be the case for connected vehicles, according to recent research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The public can also submit feedback via an online form, email or through the mail. The deadline for feedback is Thursday, Dec. 19.

Elinor Epperson has an environmental reporting internship under the MSU Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s diversity reporting partnership with the Mott News Collaborative and CNS. This story was produced for Michigan Public.