Poll: Do You Like the Idea of Streetcars on Woodward?

The latest Detroit light rail proposal envisions a system that would vie with traffic instead of running on a dedicated track and would only travel as far north as Detroit's New Center neighborhood, the Huffington Post Detroit reports.

A planned light rail route along Woodward Avenue in Detroit that got a second chance last week would be more akin to a streetcar system, according to a report on the Huffington Post Detroit website. Under the latest proposal, the streetcars would have to vie with traffic instead of running on a dedicated track and would only travel as far north as Detroit's New Center neighborhood, the site reported Monday. "I would call it a streetcar system," M1 Rail executive Matt Cullen told the Huffington Post. "It's initially going to be a circulator and a connector to our Amtrak station. It won't be a commuter system for people out in the suburbs." M1 Rail is a consortium of private investors that has backed the Detroit light rail project. The news …

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Thomas Gagne

8:45 am on Saturday, January 21, 2012

Syndi, but not before the streetcars were taken-over by the city. http://www.detroittransithistory.info/TheCityTakeover.html An interesting thing is revealed in the history of Detroit transit--the lines were franchised in a manner not dissimilar to how cable franchises work--and were privately funded and operated. Of course, that would be the difference between a privately operated bridge to …   more ›

Light Rail Project Gets Second Chance

A group of private investors has 90 days to convince government officials that the project along Woodward Avenue in Detroit is feasible.

Year in Review: Regional Transit Changes Direction

Despite the rejection of a proposed Woodward Avenue light rail line and a planned regional transit center in Troy, proponents of a regional transportation system remain optimistic.

The story: Light rail proponents began 2011 with high hopes for a Woodward Avenue line that would run from downtown Detroit north to Eight Mile and, potentially, even farther north, connecting the city and suburbs. A proposed regional transit center in Troy would have provided connecting routes throughout the area. By year-end, hopes for both the light-rail line and the transit center had been dashed. In December, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder rejected the light rail plan in favor of a bus rapid transit system that would be less expensive and quicker to implement. And, the Troy City Council voted 4-3 during the same month to end a regional transit center project that was 12 years in …

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