Detroit Gets Funding for Light Rail

Posted by: Tim Halbur

25 December 2009 - 5:00am

A public-private partnership has come together to fund a 3.4-mile light rail line through Detroit's commercial district, and convinced the Feds to bend the rules a little to bring it to reality.

Yonah Goldmark writes, "Incapable of paying a 40% share in the project's cost, the minimum local (or state) commitment to a New Starts rail project, Detroit officials asked their representatives in Congress to count the M1 spending as part of the local share. That way, the city would be able to qualify for a full 60% aid from Washington as long as it were able to cobble together the missing ten percent.

In the recent spending bill, Detroit got its way."

Full Story: Congress Approves M1 Involvement in Detroit Light Rail

Source: the transport politic, December 21, 2009