Where Detroit public transportation goes from here.

[wolverine]

Elevated? Really? Elevated? It may make it faster but it will cost, as previously debated and discussed to the point of exhaustion on this forum, more. Not just a little more, ALOT MORE. We would have to have the economies of London, Paris, and Tokyo combined to be able to afford elevated transit these days.

Elevated, oh boy...

Roughly priced, Detroit would be looking at $125-130 million per mile going elevated. It is much less expensive to go ground, but there's more maintenance complications and liabilities when a system is no longer isolated and shares the network with other modes. I've never done life cycle cost analysis with ground vs elevated which I guess some may argue would make the upfront cost look a bit less painful. It's hard to tell. When trains are off the ground your wear and tear shifts from trains and track to the stations which require additional lighting, elevators, escalators, more security, etc.

[professorscott]

I'm glad everyone's excited to discuss this but we're putting the cart ahead of the horse. The FIRST thing the RTA Board has to figure out is how to get the public to approve funding for a new system. The money available for current sources is not adequate for any substantial improvements.

What gets built depends on the amount of money the public chooses to make available. The Board will have to perform a delicate balancing act: providing the voters enough information for them to be able to make an informed choice, without overpromising. I wish them well.

You should read the legislation to be sure, but I seem to recall that the voting mechanism is region wide. Either the whole region votes in favor of new funding, or it all votes in opposition.