M-1 RAIL is the first public streetcar line in the U.S. being supported by a public-private partnership comprised of foundations; corporations; and local, county, state and federal governments.
Construction activities began just after midnight when construction workers, led by the project's construction manager/general contractor Stacy and Witbeck Inc., began positioning traffic detour signage and erecting pedestrian fencing around the work zone.
SEE: http://www.metro-magazine.com/news/story/2014/07/detroit-s-m-1-streetcar-starts-construction.aspx?ref=Express-Tuesday-NEW-20140729&utm_campaign=Express-Tuesday-NEW-20140729&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter
I got before shots of the corridor earlier this month. Here are a few:
It will end at this Amshack in New Center.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-pfwv4Jd/0/L/P1700873-L.jpg)
It's nothing like the old terminal on the other side of town that was abandoned years ago.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-t3hBjmV/0/L/P1720065-L.jpg)
New Center's skyline from the inside of Henry Ford's first auto assembly plant, which is now a museum.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-qGLsjwM/0/L/P1700914-L.jpg)
Inside Ford's Piquette Avenue plant. Built before the creation of the assembly plant, the structure is now a museum covering the changes in Ford's automobile design and manufacturing process over the last century. When the streetcar line opens, they are going to have Model T's shuttle visitors to the building, which is three blocks from Woodward Avenue.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-MHTpKBV/0/L/P1700905-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-wsGXB2Q/0/L/P1700913-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-4PXbw5q/0/L/P1700918-L.jpg)
New construction is already going up along Woodward now.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-W7gFXPk/0/L/P1700930-L.jpg)
The streetcar will connect several museums and Wayne State University in Midtown Detroit with New Center and Downtown.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-gvcLBVP/0/L/P1700932-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-hBGHctV/0/L/P1700934-L.jpg)
Lots of infill development and restoration has taken place in the section of Woodward between Midtown and Downtown.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-8fHbB65/0/L/P1700935-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-TkN2XjC/0/L/P1700945-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-QgJFpzn/0/L/P1700947-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-xz24JWp/0/L/P1720019-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-VFtFTPT/0/L/P1720018-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-pDw9n27/0/L/P1720016-L.jpg)
In downtown, the streetcar will tie into the People Mover and connect the MLB/NFL stadiums, Merchant's Row, Campus Martius Park with Hart Plaza and the riverfront.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-KcCzWTW/0/L/DSCF3034-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-rTdwFpt/0/L/DSCF3044-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-bKWm7bf/0/L/DSCF3052-L.jpg)
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Learning-From/Detroit-2014/i-Fg9fjJT/0/L/P1700959-L.jpg)
The city may have a lot of issues to overcome but it really looks like they are going to get one decent sized corridor in the center of town right, really fast.
You don't mean that streetheavycommuterlightHSRcar is causing TOD to spring up do you? Doesn't the JTA know better? Don't the people in Detroit (and everywhere else) hate rail? Don't they love buses? Isn't bus a better fit for Jacksonville? Doesn't the COJ know that micro breweries cause TOD? Won't we get more growth by letting the NFBA build whatever they want? Whenever they want? Without any fee's at all? Hrumpf! Who would think such things could really come from a streetcar? Maybe TUFSU1 knows, but is Jacksonville still working on that statue of Randal O'Toole and Wendel Cox? 8)
Well the transit agency did try to replace the streetcar proposal with BRT. That looked like it was working right up until the private companies and businessmen putting up the lion's share of the cash, threatened to take their money off the table if it wasn't fixed rail.