I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Was last major city without rapid transit system
A light rail proposal by the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) made a big stride forward last week when it was approved by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG). The plan is to build a light rail transit system on Woodward Avenue between Eight Mile Road and downtown Detroit.
“Detroit is the last major city in the nation that does not have a rapid transit system, but that is going to change with this plan,” Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick said in a statement.
“We approved it because we think that [it's] is a viable project,” Carmine Palombo, director of transport planning for SEMCOG, told Michigan Messenger. “It needs to be in our long range transport plan to make it eligible for federal funding.”
Continued -But the SEMCOG approval is just one of the first steps for the project. According to one regional planning expert, there are still crucial challenges it will face. “It’s still a very long way off,” Joe Grengs, assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, told Michigan Messenger. “It’s an important step but the most important hurdles remain. [Federal Transit Administration] approval and coming up with a plan for local funding are still the biggest issues.”
The first step — the Alternatives Analysis study, also known as the Detroit Transit Options for Growth Study (DTOGS) project — is complete. And last week the regional planning group gave the OK. But the requirements that still need to be met before federal funding is granted are as follows:
Draft environmental impact: “It can’t interfere with the environment. You have to dig underground, everything has to function like it’s been functioning — gas mains, water mains, underground wiring — we don’t want to disrupt anything,” said Rivella Philips, DDOT spokesperson.
Preliminary engineering: A construction and design draft that leads to the final design has to be OK’d by SEMCOG.
Public support: DDOT will be going to surrounding businesses and neighborhoods and educating them on what the light rail will mean to the community and what construction will be like, and asking for their support. “Public participation and involvement is very important and the federal government looks at that heavily,” Philips said. “This is a historical project.”
The long-range project, according to SEMCOG, is expected to be the first in a regional plan that includes rapid transit in three counties and would “serve as a distributor and feeder” to an Ann Arbor/Detroit commuter rail the council is considering.
DDOT is not the only one with a light rail proposal for Woodward in the works. “There is also a private group that is pushing their own suggested line that is separate from DDOT,” Grengs said.
The private line proposed is called the Woodward Transit Catalyst Project and calls for a $103 million light rail line that serves a 3.4-mile stretch in the downtown and Wayne State areas according to Crain’s Detroit Business. This is considerably shorter than the DDOT proposed line, but it is part of a larger plan to keep building the rail up to Eight Mile Road.
Officials estimate construction of the Woodward rail according to DDOT’s proposal will cost $371 million, and they say more than half of it would be covered by federal funding once the necessary steps are taken.
The projected timeline for the light rail project according to DDOT:
The Woodward line would follow an eight-mile stretch from the Michigan State Fairgrounds near Eight Mile to downtown Detroit.
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