Ultimate time lapse: You can see 32 years in metro Detroit pass by in three seconds

Dec 1, 2016 at 1:57 pm

Hey, we've heard of time lapse, but this is ridiculous. The people at Google have taken 32 years of aerial photographs of places and strung them together into brief films. Naturally, we're most interested in the one showing Detroit.

What can you see? It's hard to tell, but the work of the bulldozer and the concrete mixer seems to make the landscape shimmer and shake as the years 1984-2016 roll by. Here's a brief list of what stood out to us:

• The expansion of Metro Detroit Airport, including the extension of diagonal Runway 3L to the south and the construction of runway 9R-27L running east-west.

• The Gateway Project being built around the American side of the Ambassador Bridge.

• Work being done on the 401 in Windsor.

• Herman Gardens being demolished and redeveloped.

• A burst of development between Farmington and Inkster roads south of I-96, and the $148 million rebuild of seven miles completed two years ago.

• The construction of the Meijer at Eight Mile and Woodward appear at the last second.

What else can you see? Chime in on the comments.