The Free Press reports that Detroit will cancel its plans to build a light rail line down Woodward Avenue in favor of beefing up the city's bus system.
Plans for the light rail project had called for a 9-mile length of track down Woodward Avenue. The project was overseen by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and included oversight from Mayor Dave Bing's office, City Council, and the M1 consortium of private investors that took on considerable development costs for the project. The Downtown Development Authority had also pledged $9 million in funding.
Megan Owens, executive director of the advocacy group Transportation Riders United, released a statement late Tuesday slamming the decision.
"Mayor Bing has tossed away a $3 billion economic development opportunity that could have been the centerpiece of Detroit’s revitalization," she said.
According to the Free Press, the $528 million project was canceled after U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood expressed concern that Detroit would not be able to properly fund the rail line over the long term. LaHood previously granted $25 million to the project. And in October, SEMCOG won $2 million in federal dollars to study extending the line north to Birmingham.
Earlier this week, Detroit City Council interviewed candidates for project's board positions and named its two appointees on Tuesday.
In a statement, LaHood's spokesman said the secretary "is committed to working with Governor Snyder and Mayor Bing to help find safe and reliable solutions to the transit challenges facing the residents of the greater Detroit region."
Crain's reports M1, the group of private investors backing the project, have asked Bing and Snyder to consider a less-ambitious 3.2 mile light rail line rather than scrap the project altogether. Such a plan would provide light rail service from downtown to New Center.
Detroit will now focus on developing a rapid bus system instead, one that might run alongside the current Detroit Department of Transportation and SMART systems.
According to the Free Press, Bing spokesman Dan Lijana said Detroit residents "would be better served by high-speed buses instead of rail."
"Mayor Bing and Secretary LaHood have had numerous conversations and are on the same page on the future of transit in Detroit," Lijana told the paper.
In October, LaHood announced $6 million in grants to update DDOT buses and $5 million for SMART buses as part of $46.7 million in funding for transportation in the state of Michigan. That package also originally included the $25 for the Woodward Ave. light rail. The funding package prompted Snyder to call for a regional transportation authority that could better manage and oversee competing systems and projects.
Speaking in favor of a rapid-transit bus system at the time, Snyder called for the creation an organization "with the teeth and the commitment to coordinate existing bus services and permanent, dedicated regional funding to invest in rapid transit."
TRU's Owens criticized favoring rapid bus service over light rail, again citing economic development.
"Buses cannot serve as many people as quickly as light rail can (especially on a corridor as busy as Woodward) and costs more on a per-passenger-mile basis than light rail does (once built)," she said.
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