Sterling Heights

Details of regional mass transit plan unveiled at open house

By Jeremy Carroll
C & G Staff Writer

STERLING HEIGHTS — As dozens of residents studied poster boards detailing preliminary recommendations of the Detroit Regional Mass Transit plan, Jim Stone liked what he saw.

“I’m a big mass transit advocate,” the Utica resident said at an open house for the plan at Freedom Hill on Oct. 1.

The preliminary plan calls for arterial rapid transit through seven corridors in metro Detroit by 2011. The system would have hybrid electric buses with low-floor entry zip down Woodward Avenue, Van Dyke Avenue, Gratiot Avenue, Telegraph Road, M-59, Warren Avenue and Michigan Avenue.

Stone said he liked the plan, but would like to see some rapid bus lines go further north, to Oakland University and the Auburn Hills area.

The buses would have light signal priority, meaning a sensor would change a traffic light when the buses approach, said John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transit Coordinating Council.

“They’ll also have better shelters,” Swatosh said about the stops. “There will be maps and schedules, but there will also be electric signs that would tell you when the next bus would arrive.”

The 2011 plan also included a proposed light rail system for downtown Detroit on Woodward that is being proposed by private developers, and a proposed commuter rail to go from Detroit to Ann Arbor, including a stop for the airport. Under the plan, a arterial rapid transit bus would head to the airport as well.

“If (the 2011 plan) is the only thing we are able to achieve, that would still be an incredible improvement over what we have now,” Swatosh said.

From that plan, the arterial rapid transit bus system would grow to include Eight Mile Road and Big Beaver Road by 2015, according to the proposal. Light rail would extend out to 11 Mile or 12 Mile Road on Woodward, Swatosh said. The system would become much more expansive by 2025.

“The idea is to build up in stages,” he said.

No dollar figures were presented in terms of what the system would cost overall at the open house, as they were simply trying to gather comments from the public. Open houses were held in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

According to estimates presented, the cost of the arterial rapid transit bus system would

be $300,000 to $450,000 per mile. Swatosh said if the three county heads and the mayor of Detroit approve the plan, they would aggressively pursue federal grants.

Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, said she was optimistic that the plan would come to fruition.

“The time is right because people need options,” she said. “And regionalism really isn’t the dirty word that it has been in the past.”

Tom Hagen of Rochester said he came to the meeting because he was interested in mass transit, something that is lacking in his city now.

“I’m still trying to absorb it all,” he said about the plan while looking at poster boards detailing potential funding sources, including grants, fares and tax increases.

The plan didn’t include any line that would head to downtown Rochester.

“I would probably use it if it came that way,” Hagen said.

The plan is expected to be presented, with potential costs, to the RTCC board by the end of the year.

A digital version of the presented slides can be viewed by going to either www.detroittransit.org or by visiting www.semcog.org. To add input to the plan, e-mail the Regional Transit Coordinating Council at drmt2006@sbcglobal.net.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Carroll at or at (586) 279-1110.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Carroll at jcarroll@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1110.