http://www.transportmichigan.org/201...bert.html#more

"In all those cities, light rail trains do indeed run next to the curb at intervals where they pass through downtown areas. What Gilbert misses is the context. All these trains mostly run on one-way downtown streets that are far smaller than Woodward. There, curbside tracks are a means to two major ends: providing trains with their own right-of-way, and narrowing the river of car traffic that pedestrians need to cross. The M1 design for Woodward does neither. Let's consider each case"