Rumors of light rail death in Detroit exaggerated

After a light rail line was cancelled by Mayor Dave Bing in December, private investors and US DOT refused to give up on the idea. A scaled-down version has been proposed.

That’s good news for a city that has spent 100-plus years and lavish public treasure privileging automobile infrastructure — to wind up as the symbol of urban decay in the early part of this Millennium.

The Huffington Post reports:

Detroit's proposed light rail system -- back from the grave more times than a character on As The World Turns -- would be revived as a shorter, 3.4-mile line that doesn't come close to the city's suburbs, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday.

Instead of a 9.3-mile, $550 million line that would have reached to the Motor City's 8 Mile Road, the new project is supposed to cost $125 million and terminate in the New Center neighborhood. M1 Rail, a group of private investors and philanthropies that has served as the driving force behind the project, has 90 days to come up with a plan.

M1 says it already has $80 million committed. Beyond its shortened length, however, the newest iteration of Detroit light rail comes with a catch: it won't, technically speaking, be light rail.

M1 executive Matt Cullen called it more of a streetcar line, because it will operate in traffic. This less expensive proposal could be a blessing in disguise. Although transportation wonks may not like the slower speed of a vehicle moving in traffic — such a system is effective in restoring a strong urban mixed-use environment.

This, in turn, boosts transportation efficiency — but not the way it is usually defined. The fastest and most efficient trip is the trip not taken. High density urban neighborhoods like the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon, eliminate 50 percent or more of travel because of the high-quality, mixed-use environment that promotes walking.

Transport Politic blogger Yonah Freemark, offers thoughts both for and against this proposal. Whether the project will be able to provide frequent service is a key question, Freemark notes.

Meanwhile, such a short corridor must feature trains running very frequently. While many of the riders will be residents commuting to and from work, a significant share is likely to be made up of people transferring from other transit modes and of people who drove into work and need a downtown circulator. For the latter groups, waiting more than five minutes for a train in the middle of the day would represent a significant impediment to using the system, as they have other options, such as walking or buses. But the tenuous nature of financing for transit in metropolitan Detroit suggests that it will not be easy to fund such services, even if a TIF district is established.