VIDEO: Light rail will run from Detroit to Ann Arbor by 2010, planners say

Light rail serving the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa in Arizona. (photo: Daniel Greene via Flickr.com)

After seven years of planning and setbacks, the proposal to build a commuter rail line from Ann Arbor to Detroit will become a working reality by 2010, according to regional planners and architects working on the project.

At a townhall meeting at the Ford Community Center in Dearborn last week, planners, architects and city officials presented a detailed plan to build an intermodal train station in the heart of Dearborn that would serve a commuter rail connecting Detroit to Ann Arbor. The proposed rail line would incorporate multiple stops, including one in Ypsilanti and one at the Detroit Metro Airport. The commuter line is part of a larger project that will branch to other parts of the state.

The rail link between the two cities should start running no later than Oct. 25, 2010, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation at South East Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), the regional planning group that oversees the project. This date was set by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a promise to keep transit moving forward. Palombo said SEMCOG has not officially approved the project, but it supports the proposal and is working on its details.

Funding remains a major obstacle to enacting the proposal. Federal funding won’t be an option until the rail line has been running three years, during which SEMCOG and MDOT can show an active ridership, Palombo explained.

Instead, he said, funding will involve “passing the hat” between private and state government sponsors until a solid federal funding plan is granted. Unlike other cities with thriving public transit, Palombo pointed out that Michigan does not levy taxes designated for transit upkeep and construction.

“Our state legislation has no local option sales tax,” he told Michigan Messenger. “You’d have to change our constitution.”

Paul Fontaine, an urban planner for JJR, an architecture and urban design firm, said he sees marketing as one of the main considerations in making the project a success.

“If people don’t know about it, this it will never get off the ground,” he said.

According to Fontaine, the rail line needs a ridership equal to only one percent of the existing commuters between Ann Arbor and Detroit to obtain federal funding.

“The figure right now is about 1,000 [riders per day] we need to meet that federal requirement,” he said. He said he was “optimistic” about the ridership goals.

Dominic Raona, a 46-year-old resident of Dearborn who attended the meeting, seemed optimistic as well.

“It’s exciting,” he said about the proposal. “It’s something to look forward to. If they don’t do it now, it’ll never get done.”

But he did have his concerns. When asked if he thought 2010 was a reasonable start date, he shrugged. “In the state of the economy right now it’s harder to get support for anything that’s funded by taxes,” Raona said.

The Ann Arbor-to-Detroit rail is part of a larger project that would connect cities of Romulus, Jackson and Mt. Clements, and possibly Ferndale, Royal Oak and Birmingham. A proposal is also underway to create a light rail line from downtown Detroit to Eight Mile.

For now, the construction of the intermodal train station in Dearborn is the top priority for the project, Palombo said. “We have to work phase by phase at a time,” he said. “We’re trying to get the first stage completed. If we make [the project] too big, we’ll never get it done.”

Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr., said he knows many details remain to be addressed before Oct. 25, 2010, but he was confident that the construction of the Dearborn station will be a positive move, if nothing else.

It’s “a step in the right direction,” he said.

Video of the townhall meeting follows.