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Study urges light rail on Woodward Avenue

DetroitMan

By DetroitMan
in Detroit

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jsmyers Unincorporated Area

jsmyers

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Posted

That is not a plan...that is what the system was.

My family's farm in Atlas Twp/Grand Blanc was a short walk from a DUR flag stop. My grandfather, who graduated from HS in 1932, took it to Detroit at least a few times.

At one point, you could basically travel anywhere east of the Mississippi on an Interurban...it was all connected.

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  • 4 weeks later...
rbdetsport Burg

rbdetsport

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ok. So lately I have been thinking alot about the possibilities of transit in our area in the not too distant future and how tough it is to get federal money. Boston's Big Dig came into mind. Boston got 14 billion dollars for no more than a cosmetic fix too their downtown freeway, so why can't Detroit get 14 billion dollars to build a complete Transit system(following SEMCOG Plan). LRT on all of the Spoke lines and BRT on Western North-South and East-West Lines. The representatives of Detroit, the State, and the people of Metro Detroit should fight for a massive grant. The Grant would come in the form of a Transportation Grant for Detroit. A huge portion going to Transit and a much smaller amount going to the Port Authority.

This would be the plan-

-Detroit Port Authority takes control of Cobo Hall

-A 1.5 Billion dollar grant goes to the Detroit Port Authority

*1 Billion goes toward Cobo Expansion

*500 Million toward actual Port improvements

-The rest of the federal grant (12.5 Billion) is put toward a major transit system throughout Metro Detroit and for improvements at DTW Airport and City Airport.

Very Ambitious, but again, Boston got 14 billion. WHY CAN'T WE!

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Allan Metropolis

Allan

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It's never going to happen. The only reason the Big Dig got so much money was because of the massive cost overruns. All the congressmen from the rest of the country were pretty angry that so much money was going to Boston just to bury a freeway.

The current administration is pretty anti-mass transit, which doesn't help anything, either.

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hudkina Burg

hudkina

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But whoever the next president is will most likely be far more transit friendly. If it is a democract we'll definitely see a lot of funding for new transit projects. And even if it is McCain we will still see more progress in alternative transportation options.

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Gangway1111 Whistle-Stop

Gangway1111

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I just heard on N.P.R. that there there was a propsal annonuced to build a LRT line from Foxtown to 8 mile along woodward (in its first leg). It would be funded some 60% by the federal Government and be up and running in 2013. The formal proposal for funding will be made soon.

If you ask me such a system should at leats go the extra mile or so to 9 mile (downtown Ferndale) where the pedestrians are. That would significanttly increase the proposals chances of becoming reality (high ridership increase with little additional cost).

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hudkina Burg

hudkina

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Extending it to Ferndale wouldn't increase ridership that much, and the logistics of bringing another local level of government into it might not be worth the hassle. (I'm sure there would be at least some pressure from a segment of Ferndale residents who would be opposed to it.) Once the initial 8 miles are constructed and operating, I'm sure Oakland County would be far more willing to extend the line another 8 miles to Birmingham.

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RustTown City

RustTown

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I'm kind of surprised to hear everyone harping on the federal dollar portion of any mass transit plan. Getting the federal money would be the relatively easy part. That always gets used as an excuse to why plans fail, but it's really just a myth. The dysfunction has always been at the local end with the biggest piece of the puzzle not even being how the local government would fund the construction, but how they'd find the money to operate the system. The other big problem besides how operations would be funded has always been exactly the number of lines and if it would be inter-city or intra-city given the city-suburban divide.

What it looks like here is that for the first time in decades, the city administration has given more than just lip service to the idea of rapid transit and put in a hell of a lot of effort in making this happen. It seems they really made this a priority, at this time, instead of placing this on the back burner and hoping something would arise.

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tracer1138 Whistle-Stop

tracer1138

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I'm kind of surprised to hear everyone harping on the federal dollar portion of any mass transit plan. Getting the federal money would be the relatively easy part. That always gets used as an excuse to why plans fail, but it's really just a myth. The dysfunction has always been at the local end with the biggest piece of the puzzle not even being how the local government would fund the construction, but how they'd find the money to operate the system. The other big problem besides how operations would be funded has always been exactly the number of lines and if it would be inter-city or intra-city given the city-suburban divide.

What it looks like here is that for the first time in decades, the city administration has given more than just lip service to the idea of rapid transit and put in a hell of a lot of effort in making this happen. It seems they really made this a priority, at this time, instead of placing this on the back burner and hoping something would arise.

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Jasoncw Hamlet

Jasoncw

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The People Mover was meant to be the downtown distribution and transfer loop for a greater system, which would feed into it. It was a demo project, but it was supposed to be part of a comprehensive urban transit system. Having the light rail terminate at GCP is in line with the People Mover's intentions.

Will it only take 10 minutes to get from 8 Mile to Downtown, and will the train cars play remixed jazz? Will Detroit be in 3D while we orientate ourselves after getting off the trains? We need some insiders over here.

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  • 1 month later...
metrogrkid Hamlet

metrogrkid

Posted
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READ IT AND TAKE HEED DETROIT & GR PEOPLE . . . .

Grand Rapids: Gateway to Michigan's Transit Success

Feds won't support Detroit's Woodward Lightrail nor Detroit/Ann Arbor Commuter Rail unless State matches Federal funds for Grand Rapids BRT system

By Andy Guy

Great Lakes Bulletin News Service

DIRECT LINK TO STORY AT MICHIGAN LAND USE INSTITUTE ONLINE

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Jasoncw Hamlet

Jasoncw

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The title is kind of misleading.

The state needs to match some federal funds for the Grand Rapids project in order to get the money. If the state doesn't do that, then it will make Michigan look incompetent and unworthy in the eyes of the feds who would be involved with Detroit's federal transit money.

I really hope Michigan is able to find the 8 million dollars. If the state government has any sense they'll find the money.

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