Can Public Transit Get Detroit Moving Again?
- Light rail and bus line vote intended to spur economic growth
- Racial and political polarization loom as obstacle to passage
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The curse of the car drives tediously slow through the region that put the nation on wheels. Traffic creeps along on torn-up downtown Detroit streets and multiple lanes clog up on interstate highways leading into and out of this formerly bankrupt city.
To some, Detroit’s traffic woes are a road map to economic self-strangulation, which is why voters in southeast Michigan will be asked in November to approve what most U.S. metropolitan areas have long had – a network of far-reaching public transit. Approval of the $4.7 billion light rail and rapid bus plan presents not only an immediate challenge in this politically polarized region, but an abrupt behavioral shift as well.