Fusion joins transit forum: Model D speaker series highlights transportation in our region.
Model D Media recently held a speakers series on transportation in our region, and Fusion members participated. Speakers included John Hertel, CEO of Detroit Regional Mass Transit, and Scott Clein, an engineer with Giffels-Webster. Both are working to change the way Detroiters get around.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Hertel opened with boyhood memories of taking a final ride on Detroit's street cars before they shut down for good. Fast forward several decades, and he's leading the effort to get them back. Hertel shared the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council's recently released transit plan for Southeastern Michigan, including a light rail or streetcar system down Woodward Avenue. The firm Clein works for, Giffels-Webster, recently helped design a non-motorized plan that calls for more than 400 miles of bike lanes in Detroit. The plan recently got approval from Detroit City Council, and Clein shared the details during the event.
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RELATED ARTICLE: Moving the Transit Needle
By Melissa Roy
For the first time in our history, the Detroit Region has a transit plan and an environment that is favorable to implementation of that plan. Considering the demand for transit and the imminent need, this is great news.
This region has not seen a shortage of transit plans. Infact, there have been approximately 25 in our recent lifetime. What has not accompanied our past transit blueprints was an implementation plan. In order to connect those phases, a transit program needs a funding strategy, political support and a champion to see it through.
The Regional Transit Coordinating Council, headed by John Hertel, has been working on a regional transit plan and key steps to achieving the final goals of a regional plan. The first step in that plan is a project called TRAIL.
TRAIL will connect Detroit's Riverfront to the New Center district along Woodward Avenue, its most important commercial corridor, and revitalize the downtown business, entertainment, cultural and residential development. Hertel's team and a number of local business and community leaders have been busy lining up financial and political support to get this project off of the drafting board and in the ground. Their first step is enabling legislation.
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The Michigan legislature can make history by taking the first step in implementing an actual transit system in Detroit. Championing the package are State Representative, Bert Johnson (D-Detroit) and Senator, Jason Allen (R-Traverse City). Their legislation will enable other regions around the state to do the same. After a rough year behind us, this is an opportunity for our state government to show true leadership into a brighter future.
Melissa Roy is director of government relations for the Detroit Regional Chamber.
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| Publication: | Detroiter |
|---|---|
| Date: | Nov 1, 2008 |
| Words: | 446 |
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