Woodward/M1 Rail -- DDOT reach accord on light rail

[Detroitdave]

Finally Federal Transportation money returning back to Michigan. After YEARS of building every other city's beautiful mass transit system, Metro Detroit is FINALLY getting on track, "pun intended" .
Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks ? Maybe you can lead a horse to water and he will drink !
Now I don't have to hear "why do we need mass transit". uh because we are already paying for it and stop sending all our transit tax dollars to Dallas,Seattle, Boston, NYC , LA and Chicago's We need and deserve our own mass transit , better late than never , on a side note , we need to get this done before the Teaparty tries to cut everything ,this would NEVER happen if Obama wasn't in the white house .This is THE most attention Detroit and Michigan has gotten in YEARS under the last couple of presidents , with La hood and Obama and the vice president coming to Michigan several times in just his 3 years in office ! I've NEVER seen a administration show Michigan and Detroit this much attention .I can't remember if Bush EVER came to Detroit proper ?but I could be wrong I've only lived in Detroit for 4 years now . Any thoughts

[corktownyuppie]

That's just 3 years from the start of this thread, which begins with a Crain's article stating the goal is to begin construction by the end of 2009.

C'mon, though. In 2008 and 2009, almost every major project in both the private and public sector got pushed back 2-3 years.

[gthomas]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...deral-approval

A 12th stop might be in M1 Rail's future, pending federal approval

By Ryan Felton

Public comment
Comments can be provided until March 14, 2013, in a number of ways:

Public hearing: 4-7 p.m. Feb. 28, 2013, Detroit Public Library Main Branch

U.S. mail:
Bob Parsons
MDOT Public Involvement and Hearings Office Bureau of Highway Development P.O. Box 30050 Lansing, MI 48909

Email: Bob Parsons at parsonsb@michigan.gov

Fax: [[517) 373-9255

Related links
M1Rail



The Woodward Avenue light rail in Detroit could add a 12th stop in the future if the proposal for the project is given the green light by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration [[FTA) next month, according to a report released today.
Construction still is expected to begin later this summer and would begin with the section of the project south of Adams Street, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation for theSoutheast Michigan Council of Governments.
All of that is contingent on approval from the FTA's record of decision on the Supplemental Environmental Assessment [[EA) for the proposed M1 light rail, which was released today by theMichigan Department of Transportation.
MDOT will hold a meeting Feb. 28 at the Detroit Public Library Main Branch to gather public comment on the EA document. The hearing will run from 4-7 p.m., with a formal presentation at 5 p.m.
The EA document can be found here. Public comment will be accepted until March 14.
After that date, MDOT will submit both the EA document and public comment to the FTA for a record of decision.
Palombo said a decision from the FTA should come soon after.
The 3.3-mile M1 line between Hart Plaza and New Center [[with a predicted 3 million yearly users) will cost an estimated $5.1 million annually to operate, rising to $6.5 million by 2022, according to M1 Rail, the name of the $137 million to $140 million private-public effort.
M1's plan is a mostly curbside-running, fixed-rail streetcar circulator system, co-mingled with traffic, with 11 stops between Grand Boulevard and Congress Street. It will run in the median at its north and south ends.
The EA document includes a potential 12th stop at Burroughs Street and Amsterdam Street in the future. That stop would serve nearby Henry Ford Hospital and TechTown.
The EA document is a supplement to the environmental impact statement for the original M1 Rail M1-rail proposal, which was prepared and co-signed by the FTA and the city of Detroit in 2011, Palombo said.
The EA document focuses on the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with the currently proposed project. The scope of the document is narrower compared to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was completed for the originally proposed $528 million, nine-mile route from downtown to the city limit at Eight Mile Road.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood promised M1 a $25 million federal grant last summer if the group satisfied his concerns about how it would be funded and operated in the long term, and if the state approved a regional transit agency [[RTA) for metro Detroit.
LaHood delivered on that promise last month during an announcement at Wayne State University and said the U.S. Department of Transportation would commit $25 million to M1.
Lahood also said the RTA's bus rapid transit project would get $6.5 million in planning funds from the federal transit authority.
The RTA, which was signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder at the start of the year, will oversee a proposed $500 million, 110-mile rapid-transit regional bus system with 23 stops that would operate much like a rail line, using specialized, train-like buses with dedicated lanes. The buses would run along Gratiot, Woodward and Michigan avenues and M-59, and would connect to Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.
M1 also has secured $100 million in capital funds from the local business community, foundations and other sources.
M1 has said it will endow a $10 million fund to operate and maintain the system for up to 10 years, until 2025, at which point the group plans to donate the project assets and operating responsibility to the regional transit authority.
The leadership of M1 Rail is Roger Penske, chairman of Penske Automotive Group Inc.; Peter Karmanos Jr., founder of Detroit-based Compuware Corp.; the Ilitch family, owners of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and Little Caesar Enterprises Inc.; and Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert, the project's other co-chairman.
Major commitments of $3 million have been secured from WSU, Quicken Loans, the Ilitch companies, Penske Corp., Compuware, Chevrolet, Chrysler Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, Wayne County government, the Ford Foundation and theW.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Hudson Webber Foundation has pledged $1 million.
The $3 million commitments are for the display advertising rights to a station along the route. The Troy-basedKresge Foundation has pledged $35.1 million, part of which already has been spent, and it gave an additional $3 million as a "backstop" grant.
The Detroit Downtown Development Authority has earmarked $9 million for M1. An additional $16 million is from federal New Market Tax Credits, which have to be reapplied for annually. Financing plans also include a $22 million commercial loan.

[Tig3rzhark]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...deral-approval

A 12th stop might be in M1 Rail's future, pending federal approval

By Ryan Felton

Public comment
Comments can be provided until March 14, 2013, in a number of ways:

Public hearing: 4-7 p.m. Feb. 28, 2013, Detroit Public Library Main Branch

U.S. mail:
Bob Parsons
MDOT Public Involvement and Hearings Office Bureau of Highway Development P.O. Box 30050 Lansing, MI 48909

Email: Bob Parsons at parsonsb@michigan.gov

Fax: [[517) 373-9255

Related links
M1Rail



The Woodward Avenue light rail in Detroit could add a 12th stop in the future if the proposal for the project is given the green light by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration [[FTA) next month, according to a report released today.
Construction still is expected to begin later this summer and would begin with the section of the project south of Adams Street, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation for theSoutheast Michigan Council of Governments.
All of that is contingent on approval from the FTA's record of decision on the Supplemental Environmental Assessment [[EA) for the proposed M1 light rail, which was released today by theMichigan Department of Transportation.
MDOT will hold a meeting Feb. 28 at the Detroit Public Library Main Branch to gather public comment on the EA document. The hearing will run from 4-7 p.m., with a formal presentation at 5 p.m.
The EA document can be found here. Public comment will be accepted until March 14.
After that date, MDOT will submit both the EA document and public comment to the FTA for a record of decision.
Palombo said a decision from the FTA should come soon after.
The 3.3-mile M1 line between Hart Plaza and New Center [[with a predicted 3 million yearly users) will cost an estimated $5.1 million annually to operate, rising to $6.5 million by 2022, according to M1 Rail, the name of the $137 million to $140 million private-public effort.
M1's plan is a mostly curbside-running, fixed-rail streetcar circulator system, co-mingled with traffic, with 11 stops between Grand Boulevard and Congress Street. It will run in the median at its north and south ends.
The EA document includes a potential 12th stop at Burroughs Street and Amsterdam Street in the future. That stop would serve nearby Henry Ford Hospital and TechTown.
The EA document is a supplement to the environmental impact statement for the original M1 Rail M1-rail proposal, which was prepared and co-signed by the FTA and the city of Detroit in 2011, Palombo said.
The EA document focuses on the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with the currently proposed project. The scope of the document is narrower compared to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was completed for the originally proposed $528 million, nine-mile route from downtown to the city limit at Eight Mile Road.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood promised M1 a $25 million federal grant last summer if the group satisfied his concerns about how it would be funded and operated in the long term, and if the state approved a regional transit agency [[RTA) for metro Detroit.
LaHood delivered on that promise last month during an announcement at Wayne State University and said the U.S. Department of Transportation would commit $25 million to M1.
Lahood also said the RTA's bus rapid transit project would get $6.5 million in planning funds from the federal transit authority.
The RTA, which was signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder at the start of the year, will oversee a proposed $500 million, 110-mile rapid-transit regional bus system with 23 stops that would operate much like a rail line, using specialized, train-like buses with dedicated lanes. The buses would run along Gratiot, Woodward and Michigan avenues and M-59, and would connect to Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.
M1 also has secured $100 million in capital funds from the local business community, foundations and other sources.
M1 has said it will endow a $10 million fund to operate and maintain the system for up to 10 years, until 2025, at which point the group plans to donate the project assets and operating responsibility to the regional transit authority.
The leadership of M1 Rail is Roger Penske, chairman of Penske Automotive Group Inc.; Peter Karmanos Jr., founder of Detroit-based Compuware Corp.; the Ilitch family, owners of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and Little Caesar Enterprises Inc.; and Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert, the project's other co-chairman.
Major commitments of $3 million have been secured from WSU, Quicken Loans, the Ilitch companies, Penske Corp., Compuware, Chevrolet, Chrysler Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, Wayne County government, the Ford Foundation and theW.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Hudson Webber Foundation has pledged $1 million.
The $3 million commitments are for the display advertising rights to a station along the route. The Troy-basedKresge Foundation has pledged $35.1 million, part of which already has been spent, and it gave an additional $3 million as a "backstop" grant.
The Detroit Downtown Development Authority has earmarked $9 million for M1. An additional $16 million is from federal New Market Tax Credits, which have to be reapplied for annually. Financing plans also include a $22 million commercial loan.

Alright, let me get this straight:

The M1-Rail project sponsors still want to run this train curbside with traffic instead of on a dedicated center lane.

Did these folks forget that people still park curbside along Woodward?

Did these folks forget that DDOT and SMART pickup/drop off passengers on the curb?

Did these folks forget that bicyclists use the curbside lane to ride their bikes on?

Do they really think that people riding on a Woodward local bus, heading downtown, are going to get off at Grand Blvd, and wait for the M1 to take them the rest of the way down? If so, do they really believe that streetcar will beat the bus downtown running curbside along with traffic?

The project is going to start construction this summer. We have until then to make sure they get this done right. Remember the People Mover? We don't need another version of that.

Make your voice heard. Otherwise we are seriously going to have to live with People Mover v2.

[webband1]

Make your voice heard. Otherwise we are seriously going to have to live with People Mover v2.

From the website, ways to voice your opinion [[until March 14):
At the public hearing, 4-7pm, Feb 28th @ the Main Library
online at www.mi.gov/woodwardstreetcar
or by contacting Bob Parsons:

Bob Parsons
MDOT Public Involvement and Hearings Office
Bureau of Highway Development
P.O. Box 30050
Lansing, MI 48909

email: parsonsb@michigan.gov

Fax: 517-373-9255

[Tig3rzhark]

I've already left my suggestions, more than once. Currently, it looks like my comments on the project have fallen on deaf ears.

I've checked their documents and the designs that they are going to submit to the Feds. There is no way that this design will work well on Woodward, unless there are some changes.

Forcing the bicyclists off of Woodward, eliminating curbside parking, and making it difficult for Woodward buses to pick up passengers on the curb, will only make things worse, and will make M1-rail nothing more than a failure.

[WPitonya]

I don't think a "curbside" alignment would remove parking from all of Woodward; only where the stations are. I believe the curb would jut out to the tracks at those points. I'm pretty sure the streetcar would simply travel on the current lane next to the parallel parking.

However, I agree with having dedicated tracks in the middle of Woodward, more from an urban planning standpoint. Since Woodward is pretty wide, this would help scale it down to a more dense corridor; it would split up the large gap between both [[growing) street walls.

[Eric_c]

I don't think a "curbside" alignment would remove parking from all of Woodward; only where the stations are. I believe the curb would jut out to the tracks at those points. I'm pretty sure the streetcar would simply travel on the current lane next to the parallel parking.

However, I agree with having dedicated tracks in the middle of Woodward, more from an urban planning standpoint. Since Woodward is pretty wide, this would help scale it down to a more dense corridor; it would split up the large gap between both [[growing) street walls.

Yes. All of this from beginning to end.

[MSUguy]

I don't if anyone has had chance to read M1's RPF. Two interesting things 1. the alignment will transition to center running north of Burroughs. They plan on using the Siemens S70 as the rolling stock which is light rail capable.

http://www.m-1rail.com/wp-content/up...ead-Design.pdf

[gthomas]

I was walking down Woodward today and I see these contractor's in one section looking to be tracks exposed underneath broken asphalt. I asked, are you guys part of M-1 rail..they said YES, we're doing study with the existing track embedded, possibly re-using them. They also said, construction will start at Adam st. Downtown and flow both north and south, with the southern end finishing first of course. Exciting to hear...Oh, there will be two service/maintenance buildings for the lightrail, at the northend across from Youthville Center and next to Detroit One Coney on Woodward, one block south of Mack Av. where there's chickens running wild in a vacant field surrounded by 20 ft fencing/bob wiring.

[hudkina]

Here's my proposal.



There would be 13 stations. The stations from north to south would be:

New Center Commons/North End [[between Mason and Delaware)
New Center [[between Grand Blvd and Milwaukee)
Techtown [[between Piquette and Burroughs)
University North/Arts Center [[between Ferry and Kirby)
University South [[between Warren and Hancock)
Medical Center North [[between Canfield and Willis)
Medical Center South [[between Mack and Eliot)
Brush Park/Cass Park [[between Temple and Sproat)
Foxtown/Stadium District [[between Elizabeth and Adams)
Rosa Parks/Capitol Park [[between State and Michigan)
Cobo Center/Financial District [[between Congress and Larned)
Hart Plaza/Civic Center [[northside between Woodward and Randolph, southside between Woodward and Griswald)
Renaissance Center/Bricktown [[northside between Beaubien and Brush, southside between Randolph and Brush)

[bailey]

Here's my proposal.



There would be 13 stations. The stations from north to south would be:

New Center Commons/North End [[between Mason and Delaware)
New Center [[between Grand Blvd and Milwaukee)
Techtown [[between Piquette and Burroughs)
University North/Arts Center [[between Ferry and Kirby)
University South [[between Warren and Hancock)
Medical Center North [[between Canfield and Willis)
Medical Center South [[between Mack and Eliot)
Brush Park/Cass Park [[between Temple and Sproat)
Foxtown/Stadium District [[between Elizabeth and Adams)
Rosa Parks/Capitol Park [[between State and Michigan)
Cobo Center/Financial District [[between Congress and Larned)
Hart Plaza/Civic Center [[northside between Woodward and Randolph, southside between Woodward and Griswald)
Renaissance Center/Bricktown [[northside between Beaubien and Brush, southside between Randolph and Brush)

It's not running close enough to Dan Gilbert's front door and you've eliminated all of lower Woodward.

[gthomas]

Woodward is going to be a mess this summer!!!

Construction – Segment 1 [[South of Adams)
Utility Relocations, TPSS & Station Foundation, Site/Demo June 2013 – December 2013
Woodward Avenue Resurfacing June 2013 – December 2013
Guideway Construction June 2013 – December 2013
Station & Systems Construction April 2014 – August 2015
Construction – Segment 2 [[North of Adams)
Woodward Avenue Reconstruction April 2014 – April 2015
Guideway Construction April 2014 – August 2015
Stations & Systems Construction April 2014 – August 2015
Vehicle Storage & Maintenance Facility Construction October 2013 – August 2014
System Start-up Sept. 2015 – Last Quarter 2015
Begin System Operations Last Quarter 2015