U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will visit Detroit today. He’ll meet with a wide-ranging group of government officials and business leaders on the future of light rail transit in the city. The M-1 project on the main thoroughfare of Woodward Avenue could eventually connect with a regional system.
Governor Rick Snyder plans to attend. He says light rail is part of a strategy to make Michigan’s largest city as attractive to entrepreneurs and young people as Chicago or Boston.
“If you look at the major cities, cities that are very successful, mass transit is an important component both for the young people that want those communities, but for the people living in the city," says Snyder, "It’s a more-efficient means of getting around and for people who don’t have the resources, it can be their lifeline to a job or other services that are critically important.”
Businesspeople and government officials hope for more federal financial support for the project, which would operate for several years before reaching the break-even point.
