If Southeast Michigan’s “Big Four” leaders (Patterson, Bing, Gieleghem, and Ficano) don’t get their act together and support a regional mass transit plan that has been years in the making, “metro Detroit will be in no position to take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid needed for new transit projects, including the publicly funded portion of a planned light-rail system on Woodward in Deroit,” the Detroit Free Press opined this week in a tone similar to what state representatives used in our newsletter last week. “If southeast Michigan’s elected leaders can’t get on the same page, Michiganders are likely to watch their federal tax dollars diverted, as they have been in the past, to states whose metropolitan regions have their acts together.”
While you’re holding your breath waiting for true regional cooperation among Southeast Michigan’s political leaders, hearings start next Monday on another concept for high-speed rail from Detroit to Lansing. If you have the time and interest, check out the plan on June 15 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.
5 Comments
The Autoblog high speed rail from Detroit to Lansing is interesting, high technology.
It points out one problem, we have now, is getting the right of way for a surface rail or elevated hydrogen powered line. If we had set aside the surface right of way along Grand River when it was all farm land, the rails could have been put down years ago.
If this is what Michigan wants to do, it is time to get started, because land acquisition could take longer than you think. Of course, there must be Federal money for that.
We need more than just mass transit in the Detroit metro area. We need it for the entire state. We should be able to grab a train to travel within the state and outside the state with ease. Lets stop thinking small but HUGE. This would bring more people into the state to spend. I live in Big Rapids and it would be nice to catch a train to reach Airports with more ease or even take a train that takes less time time than driving to Chicago and Minnesota.
Very misleading and disappointing work John!
You are almost always better than this.
The House is NOT conducting hearings, Rep. Rogers is on his own, and the distinction is significant.
This plan by the “Hydrogen Brothers” is untenable, both financially and technologically. There has been no demonstration of any aspect of this system, no test track built, no investors revealed, and no reputable supporters have come forward.
I appreciate Rep. Rogers’ enthusiasm for transit and his willingness to work with other transit advocates in the House, but this whole charade detracts from the real work that needs to be done, both in the time that is devoted to it and the distractions (see above) that it presents.
I posted a link describing California’s statewide effort to establish true high-speed rail elsewhere this week, following a fascinating (but long) story in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.
Most fascinating is the fact that the Sunshine State would operate this massive system itself, rather than work through the federal Amtrak system.
Rather than repeating myself, here’s the NYT link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14Train-t.html
Speaking of Michigan and rail mass transit, the almost-former Ann Arbor News updates us all on a Whitmore Lake company which is willing to build a true 21st Century system, including utilities:
Here’s the mlive link:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/05/whitmore_lake_companys_maglev.html