How long will light rail construction take?

[Meddle]

We had danced around this issue for a couple of years on this site. I won't believe it until I see the ground breaking which might never happen in 2012

I'd be surprised if you see any progress by 2021.

[KarmicCurse]

I'm always struck by the comments from officials, most recently in the Metro Times article, cautioning optimists about the size, scale, complexity, and length of time involved in this project. The plan is to re-instate a very small fraction of what had been there for the first half of the 20th century, and what currently exists in most large cities worldwide!

I realize that today we are more fractured as a community, that the economy is weak, that construction standards are higher, that labor is more costly. But this is like being told human flight is right around the corner. It's sad that big things can't be accomplished in a big way anymore.

[SteadySky]

In reality I bet this just doesn't happen in any widespread manner. I think there are forces against it. I think it will end up being a People Mover-like system. Sad to say, but I think that is true.

[BrushStart]

If it doesn't happen, I'm gone, and I'm taking my tax money with me.

[English]

It's not just about light rail. Our entire society suffers from inaction, petty squabbling, and pessimism. We just aren't the people that our ancestors were. They were concerned about building institutional legacies for their children, even during times much more dire than these. The last generation that felt that way was the Greatest Generation. The longer the time since they've let go of the reins, the more their title of "greatest" seems to fit.

In every declining society, there is a generation that completely drops the ball, and the blame lies with the Boomers and my own Generation X. We took only 30 years to destroy 200+ years of nation and community building. Great job, folks!

[DetroitDad]

[[Above) Original Detroit Interurbans

Well, it must be said that this isn't that different from the original construction of our Interurban systems. Back then, they were even more privatized, and it was no easy task. A lot of hard work, time, and effort went to getting those interurban lines off the ground. It was possibly harder and less certain than our current M-1 initiative.

[[Above) The proposed new light rail line on Woodward.

As to the airplane analogy, make no mistake, they always laughed with pessimism and ridicule.

That being said, destroying a city in a short amount of time is nothing new. I am a bit more morbid than most, in that I see Detroit and Michigan's decline as the start and not the end. My own belief is that the world is a sea of cause and effect, a constant changing of four seasons; cycles of cultural and economic creation, destruction, decay/instability, and rebirth. A jagged pill to swallow, but this is how evolutionary progress happens.

If my belief holds true, things are going to get pretty bad for all of us.

I am no Petrarch, but I do think that my fate, our fate is also to live among varied and confusing storms. But, for our descendants, those reading our words long into the future, it will not last as such. They will experience the dawn of a new day, and a new age of light. Those sleepwalking and forgetful will be gone, and the darkness will give way to a new light even brighter than before, allowing our descendants to shine in a new radiance which we cannot even imagine.

[[Above) The Roman Coliseum and other ruins were regularly scrapped after the fall of Rome. Many residents in that period, lived amongst the ruins, and insisted on calling themselves "Romans" nearly a century thereafter.

As for us, cities will fall victim to their Archilles' heel [[violence, racial strife, natural disaster, etc.), and blame will need to be placed. Third world countries will go into chaos, while the former super powers continue to lose their relevance. Detroit, being among the first to fall, has a very important job to do. Not being behind, but ahead, it must figure out how to tend the remaining candle of knowledge, and see things through.

Knowledge, smaller endeavors to make our lives easier, and ruins are all some of the world will see from this point onward. These are the characteristics of a dark age.

[harsensis]

What really needs to happen is a line that goes right from the airport to downtown. I go to Minneapolis and Seattle and I can fly in, then jump on the train. The trains are always packed. Please get it together Detroit!

[canuck]

You could be right Detroitdad, but I think that Detroit metro and Michigan packa bigger punch than that. I would entreat folks to band together and be more vocal about the needs of the region. I guess it is hard for people to imagine a possible municipal fusion or coalescence of goals because the city has been through so much. The racial divide, the sprawl, the big three's playground gone to bits to a certain extent makes it a daunting task. But Detroiters will overcome this the same way they got to build a great city; one block at a time. When you feel overwhelmed, the one axiom to remember that strengthens your patience is We will cross that bridge when we get there. You can only do so much in a day.

[DetroitDad]

You could be right Detroitdad, but I think that Detroit metro and Michigan packa bigger punch than that. I would entreat folks to band together and be more vocal about the needs of the region. I guess it is hard for people to imagine a possible municipal fusion or coalescence of goals because the city has been through so much. The racial divide, the sprawl, the big three's playground gone to bits to a certain extent makes it a daunting task. But Detroiters will overcome this the same way they got to build a great city; one block at a time. When you feel overwhelmed, the one axiom to remember that strengthens your patience is We will cross that bridge when we get there. You can only do so much in a day.

Agreed! No reason to stop fighting. Do you ever think that for most of us, it would make more sense to attempt to go into the various suburbs, and bring the fight to where the indifference is? That isn't something a lot of us here want to do.... we want to be in Detroit, and help out in Detroit. But for regionalism, we need fighters on both fronts.

So many of us say part of the problem is in suburbia, but few seem to actually do anything about it.

[DetroitDad]

What really needs to happen is a line that goes right from the airport to downtown. I go to Minneapolis and Seattle and I can fly in, then jump on the train. The trains are always packed. Please get it together Detroit!

There is a plan in the works for a Ann Arbor to Detroit commuter rail line. It has been put on hold partially due to the delays in light rail, which would connect the New Center station to Downtown Detroit. The plan calls for a connection with Metro Airport.