Just three weeks after a 9.3-mile light rail line
down Woodward Avenue, the city’s central strip, Mayor Dave Bing
revealed on Friday that he would allow a shorter link funded by a
private group to move forward if it submitted an acceptable business
plan within 90 days.
The project will have to be built right: Even at just 3.4 miles, the
line could serve as a quick, reliable connector between the waterfront
and the New Center,
via Midtown. But that will only be possible if trains have their own
lanes, run frequently and are funded with no negative effect on the
city’s already under-financed bus system. There is evidence that those
conditions will not be met. Yet the project’s design has yet to be
completed — Detroit transportation advocates could still successfully
fight for the appropriate implementation of this first stage of Woodward
Light Rail.
But the circumstances in which the project’s reactivation has
occurred speak to a continued dysfunction not only in Detroit but in
American transportation politics in general.
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| Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI, photo by bruna camargo |
The rail project was put on hold last month because of the sense that
Detroit — already mired in debt — would be unable to afford the
operations costs of the corridor (estimated at $10 million a year)
without sacrificing bus service. Repeated plans for a regional
transportation authority, and associated funding, have been in the air
for decades. Only a plan that served the suburbs well would be
acceptable, since they would have to agree to increase financing for
transit. So Bing, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood agreed to refocus efforts and money on
city-suburban improvements to the bus network.
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| Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI, photo byNuevo Anden |
The latest move is backtracking at its best. Seemingly overwhelmed by calls
from influential congressmen and the executives of downtown businesses
like Quicken, Penske, and Compuware — who have already lined up $80
million for a $125 million short version of the line (called M1-Rail,
which was actually proposed in advance of the longer corridor) — the
deal from last month will be amended.
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| Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI, photo by femaletrumpet02 |
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| Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI, photo byMaia C |
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