for those of you who dont know when the mass trasnit system of detroit was planned they wanted it to be cars, hell they make them, they arent going to have a rail system. so in order to get people on and off the the exresspways easily they ran the roads all through the city. In order to make that work and not be too much in the way, they sunk the road down so they were below street level. that is why the barrier is the same level as the ground.