Detroit transit news: Woodward Light Rail on track to extend from the riverfront to 8 Mile Road

August is starting out well for Detroit. The Obama administration sent U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to the city Monday (Aug. 2) morning to deliver the good news: 9.3 miles of Woodward Avenue Light Rail, from the Detroit River to Eight Mile Road, will be shepherded through the system as one single project. This means, for the first time, private funding — in this case, $125 million in funds raised for the M1 Rail Line that was to stretch 3.4 miles from the Detroit River to New Center — is being leveraged as matching funds for a federal transit project. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and Sen. Carl Levin were given credit for the enabling legislation that allowed this exception.

Mayor Dave Bing, who announced the news at a press conference held in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts overlooking Woodward, says that the City of Detroit will be the local project sponsor. He credits Gov. Jennifer Granholm for the state’s contribution of $25 million in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) funds. Bing says the rail line has potential to generate economic spin-off. “The development it will generate is equally as important as the convenient transportation it will provide,” Bing says. Expect “transit-oriented development” to be the buzzword in these parts in the coming years.

LaHood stressed Woodward Avenue’s historic significance and his hopes that the public-private nature of the Woodward Avenue Light Rail Transit can be emulated elsewhere. “Projects like this cannot be done with just public dollars,” he said. “This could be a model for the the country…and an economic engine for this community.”

A public meeting will be held on Aug 14 to discuss Woodward Avenue Light Rail from 11 a.m. to 1p.m. and again from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Considine Community Center, 8904 Woodward Ave. in Detroit.

First step: a Notice of Intent was published in the Federal Register on Friday, July 30, for an Environmental Impact Study for the project. The EIS should take 12 to 16 months. Parsons Brinkerhoff will manage the EIS process for the Department of Transportation. If all goes according to plan and federal funds are awarded to the project after the completion of the environmental study, the rail line will be up and running in 2016.

Source: Mayor Dave Bink and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh