SMART Archives - The Handbuilt City

Oakland County Approves Universal SMART Millage For Fall Ballot

August 15, 2022August 16, 2022 Guest 0 Comments advocacy, auburn hills, brooks patterson, calley wang, dave coulter, DDOT, detroit department of transportation, DTE, GM, kevin mcdaniel, l brooks patterson, livonia, megan owens, metro detroit, michael gingell, mikal goodman, mobility, mobility organizing, motor city freedom riders, opt-out, people mover, quicken, rochester hills, RTA, RTA opt-out, RTA opt-out communities, SMART, suburbia, suburbs, transit, transit justice, transportation riders united, troy michigan, trumplandia, walking man, why is transit in detroit so bad

It’s official: Oakland County will have an opportunity to vote on transit investment in the fall! Such was the determination

auburn-hills-transit-downtown-michigan-SMART-service-funding

Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

Into Exurban Oblivion: Auburn Hills Mulls Ditching Transit Service

February 21, 2022February 21, 2022 Guest 0 Comments auburn hills, bus, bus ridership, buses, calley wang, chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, DDOT, Detroit, divergent diamond, diverging diamond, editorial, farebox recovery ratio, fca, FCAU, fiat chrysler, Flint MTA, Ford, general motors, great lakes crossing, how is transit funded, mdot, michigan department of road engineering, michigan department of transportation, Nat Zorach, nimbyism, public transit, retrofitting the suburbs, ridership, RTA, rta michigan, SMART, stellantis, suburban transit, the handbuilt city, transit, transit funding, transit millage, transportation, Urban planning

In one of the farthest-north suburbs of Detroit, a municipality’s elected representatives are discussing the possibility of eliminating fixed-route transit, which has the support of an overwhelming percentage of the electorate, to save around $800,000 per year. In this guest co-editorial, Calley Wang and Nat Zorach argue that this is a really, really terrible idea.

ddot-buses-downtown-detroit-ally-detroit-center-transit

Detroit Labor Public transit

Recharging the Aquifer Underneath Detroit’s Transit Desert

January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 Martha Connell 0 Comments DDOT, ddot cuts, ddot detroit, ddot driver shortage, ddot funding, ddot routes, Detroit, duggan, duggan administration, economic development, labor, metro detroit, michigan, QLINE, regional transit authority, regioonal transit authority, RTA, rta michigan, rta millage, SMART, transit, transit service, wages

Martha Connell looks at some hard questions about the future of Detroit’s transit.

Business & Economics Transit infrastructure Infrastructure

Black Ocean Strategy? Private Firms Are Looking To Cut Themselves A Slice Of The Infrastructure Pie.

March 25, 2021March 25, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann arbor, anthony townsend, austerity, autonomous cars, BRT, CASE, cavnue, chicago parking meter deal, chicago parking meters, daley the lesser, diane cross, EVs, fast bus, finance 101, ford mustang mach-e, free market, google, highways, hudson yards, infrastructure, Infrastructure Partners, invisible hand, jeff cranson, LRT, mach-e, mark de la vergne, mdot, michael heller, morgan stanley infrastructure partners, MSIP, mustang mach-e, PAV, privatization, privatization of transportation infrastructure, privatized, richard j. daley, richard m. daley, roadways, Sidewalk, sidewalk labs, SMART, smart city, smart roadways, subways, transportation infrastructure

Wall Street and Silicon Valley are looking for access to infrastructure as they seek out new markets and sources of reliable revenue streams and growth potential. It’s good work … if you can get it.

Business & Economics Historic preservation Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

Detroit Fairgrounds Site: Alternatives to Permanent, Monumentally Bad Decisions

October 6, 2020October 5, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 8 mile, adaptive reuse, brooks patterson, brownfield, dave coulter, DDOT, Density, Detroit, duggan, economic development, eight mile, francis grunow, historic preservation, mike duggan, preservation, QLINE, redevelopment, RTA, SMART, state fairgrounds, state fairgrounds site, transit, transit infrastructure, woodward, woodward avenue

The State Fairgrounds site is centrally located, and it’s huge. Too huge to make some monumentally bad decisions about permanently turning it into a Shelby Township-style strip mall.

Urban Planning Public transit

State of Transit 2020: A Brooksless Mobility Future Rolls Forward

January 31, 2020February 10, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments brooks patterson, dave coulter, DDOT, Detroit, Ford, GM, john good, kristina curtiss, macomb county, megan owens, RTA, SMART, transit, warren evans, wayne county

TRU hosted its annual State of Transit event last night at TechTown. A sumptuous feast was catered. County Executives Warren

Urban Planning Parking

Detroit Park City No. 6 – Eastern Parket District

January 14, 2020February 10, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments dan carmody, david tobar, DDOT, dequindre cut, detroit park city, eastern market, eastern market corporation, fast bus, gratiot avenue, market district, parking minimums, public transit, SMART

Eastern Market is home to about 1400 city-owned off-street parking spaces, representing a massive public subsidy for the motorcar.

Urban Planning Public transit Transit infrastructure

RTA: Intercity Bus Service between Detroit and Ann Arbor, Coming To A Southeast Michigan Near You

January 9, 2020January 13, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments ann arbor, BRT, Detroit, intercity bus, LRT, michigan connector, michigan flyer, public transit, public-private partnership, RTA, SMART, southeast michigan, southeast michigan area rapid transit

Often discussed in conversations about regional transit expansion in Southeast Michigan is the idea of a high-speed rail connection between

Business & Economics Urban Planning Public transit

Challenging The Automotive Paradigm in Reagan Democrat Country

December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments 8 mile, ballot initiative, classism, gratiot, leon drolet, macomb county, mark hackel, mass transit, property tax, public transit, racism, regional transit, regional transit authority, RTA, SEMCOG, SMART, transit, transit corridors, transit millage, xenophobia

I found out the other night that there are people in Macomb County who actually refer to the Gratiot FAST

Urban Planning Public transit Transit infrastructure Parking

The Somewhat Unsurprising Struggle of Detroit’s Streetcar

May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments dan gilbert, DDOT, Gretchen Whitmer, Ilitches, Little Caesars Arena, M1 Rail, Midtown Detroit, Mike Ilitch, public transit, QLINE, Quicken Loans, RTA, SMART, Streetcars, transit

Figures out this week show that Detroit’s QLINE streetcar, once heralded as a bringer of progress to our struggling city,