Detroit's Transportation Infrastructure: Policy Experts Recommend 'Any And All' Approach (VIDEO)

Our friends at Translogic are taking a look at the Motor City's public transit (and lack thereof) this week.

Translogic talked to transportation policy experts and public planners to get a feel for what Detroit has now and what it most desperately needs.

"The most interesting takeaway for me following our conversations with urban planners at [the University of Michigan] is that the 'zero-sum' approach to transit isn’t as productive as a systematic, multimodal approach," said Translogic's Adam Morath, the show’s creator and executive producer (and metro-Detroit native).

Morath says people tend to approach Detroit's transit options as mutually exclusive -- light rail or buses, not both. "But, according to these professors, the discussion shouldn’t be about what we don’t have, rather what we do have, and how that existing infrastructure will integrate with proposed additions like BRT or light rail," he said.

Morath says we also can't ignore Detroit's automotive past when talking about the city's present and future transportation planning.

"Basically, Detroit fell in love with roads and interstates as the car boomed. Not only was this focus to the detriment of other public transit development, but it actually displaced and disconnected neighborhoods, leading to more demand for the public transit options we lacked," he explained. "It’s also a socio-economic issue. Detroit is a great place to navigate by car, but what if you don’t have a license or can’t afford to own your own car?"

Check out more from Translogic here.