Part 2: Reanimating Woodward Avenue's Street-cars: The M1 Rail Project

In honor of the Qline's scheduled launch in 2017, here's a blog written in 2013 about the project.

At 5:56am on April 8, 1956, operator Paul Payne pulled streetcar PCC #233 into the Woodward car house ending the operation of the city's last street-car line, the Woodward line, that had begun service on August 27, 1863.  Later that afternoon, a special "End of the Line" parade was conducted along Woodward.  The parade included 24 street-cars carrying almost 2,000 passenger led by the Highland Park High School Band and accompanied by a police escort, fire vehicles, and turn-of-the-century automobiles (follow this link to a two-minute video of the parade).

One of 24 street-cars participating in the "End of the Line"  Parade on April 8, 1956
(Photo source Dave's Electric Railroads —Stephen M. Scalzo collection)

With the complete elimination of street-cars, replaced with diesel buses, Detroit replaced Cleveland, Ohio as the largest U.S. city with an all-bus operation.  All 183 street cars, Detroit's entire inventory (except three which were deemed unacceptable), were sold to Mexico City.  The last car shipped to their new home on July 19, 1956.  The street-cars would continue in service until September 1985 when, while being refurbished, the cars were crushed during a magnitude 8.1 earthquake.

Almost 20 years later, a proposal to return street-cars to Woodward Avenue, is about to become reality.  Known at the M1 light-rail project, the estimated $137 million dollar project will place a fixed-rail streetcar system within Woodward avenue's median and organize 11 stops between Grand Boulevard and Congress Street.

Original plans designed a nine-mile line that ran a from downtown to 8 Mile Road.  But in December 2012, suburban city and state officials decide to support a rapid-transit bus system rather than a light rail system.  Light rail plans were therefore shortened to 3.3 miles, instead connecting New Center's Amtrak station to downtown.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) granted the M1 Rail project $25 million earlier this year.  The remainder of the construction funding is pledged by civic and philanthropic groups, including $35 million from the Kresge Foundation and $9 million from the Downtown Development Authority.

The rail system is expected to cost $5.1 million to operate annually; 80 percent of that to be covered by fares and advertising.  Supporters of the project pledged to endow a $10 million fund to privately support operating costs for up to 10 years until 2025, at which point they would hand the system's operation over to a public entity.

The request for the first of four bids was released in April this year.  This first contract (valued at approximately $85 million) will cover the cost of all major construction, including the tracks, power control and passenger stations.  A second contract for six streetcars will be released later this year.  The third request for bids is scheduled for release later this year and will cover the construction of a vehicle storage and maintenance facility (valued at approximately $9.5 million).  The final bid request, to be released no later than early 2014, is for a private-sector vendor to operate and maintain the streetcar system.

Rendering of a M1 street-car traveling south
 near Woodward and Mack Avenues
image credit

Construction is scheduled to begin in August 2013.  Construction north of Adams should commence in 2014, in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Transportation’s reconstruction next year of 2.5 miles of Woodward between Sibley and Chandler. Construction from Adams Street south to Congress Street is scheduled for June through August 2015.  M1 expects that the rail line will be up and running by late 2015.

Next in our series on Southeastern Michigan Transportation:
Part 3: MiTrain: High-speed Rail Between Ann Arbor and Detroit

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Sources:

"M1 Rail bids ready to leave the station", Crain's Detroit Business, May 12, 2013.

"M1 Light Rail actually won't be light rail, proposal is technically for 'street car' line", MLive, January 10, 2012.

"M1 Rail project gets final OK from federal government", Detroit Free Press, April 22, 2013.

"M-1 Rail Group Releases $137 Million Woodward Avenue Light Rail Plan, Has $84 Million Secured ", HuffPost Detroit, June 4, 2012.

"Streetcars of Desire", Model D, April 4, 2006.
"The P.C.C. Era in Detroit – Part 5", Detroit Transit History