Detroit's real estate values and tax base were "largely destroyed" by the flight to the suburbs, which began in the 1950s and continued through the 1980s, [Coleman Young] said. But the freeways that facilitated that outflow at least ran through the heart of the city. The Reuther Freeway skirts it and is connected to the city only by exit routes, which can easily be ignored by suburban commuters, Young said.

The Reuther Freeway touches Royal Oak at the town's southwest corner, several miles from the downtown business district. To attract highway business, Royal Oak officials have proposed building hotels and office buildings near the Reuther Freeway junction. Their problem is putting up the buildings and handling the new traffic they might generate without destroying long-established residential neighborhoods in the area.

Housing prices in Royal Oak range from $35,000 to $300,000, with the majority around $65,000. But housing values have been going up steadily since early 1988, in anticipation of completion of the Reuther Freeway, [Pat Paruch] said.