Preparatory Work for M-1 Rail Begins

[emu steve]

One thing I read about M-1 in the papers: Doesn't go far enough.

Fair enough.

I question is where are the employment hubs [[besides those within the 3 mile M-1 route)?

Are there enough employment 'hubs' along Woodward between New Center and 8 mile?

One thing which hasn't been mentioned about the D.C. area subway system are the large number of employment hubs along much of the routes [[D.C. area employment hubs are both centralized in the central city, downtown, but also sprawled all over the region).

E.g., Va has the Pentagon, Ballston, Crystal City, Pentagon City, etc. and of course now Tysons Corner [[and many more).

D.C.'s downtown is full of employment centers [[from Foggy Bottom-George Washington through say Union Station) which are accessible via blue, orange, or red lines [[and now the silver).

If I were to design an extended M-1 [[okay I'm dreaming here), I would take it to at least 8 mile with stops at 8 mile, 7 mile, 6 mile, etc. and have different bus lines running east/west along those mile roads making a circular [[out and back) route at Woodward.

E.g., a FEEDER bus goes southbound on Woodward from 8 Mile to 7 Mile dropping off folks at 7 Mile M-1 before routing west bound on 7 Mile to Southfield service drive and then heading north to 8 Mile and then head east bound to Woodward at M-1 station. A circular bus route which covers a big route but also feeds M-1.

[[And do the same thing with a local feeder line for the areas east of Woodward).

Anyone living near Woodward, 8 mile, 7 mile and the western perimeter [[whatever that might be. e.g. Southfield service drive) should be roughly 1/2 mile or less from a bus line. They could, if desired, transfer to M-1 and go along Woodward to their final destination headed toward downtown.

So if a person was working at a fast foot restaurant on 8 mile but lived near 7 mile, they could get on the circular bus and it would get them there. If they worked downtown, that would also work nicely.