Metro Detroit mass transit plan OK'd

Jim Lynch / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Top elected officials from the Metro Detroit area gave unanimous approval Monday to a regional mass transportation plan linking the three surrounding counties to the downtown heart of the Motor City.

The leaders of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, along with Detroit Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr., gathered downtown to lend their support to a project that would lead to increased bus routes, light rail transit and, eventually, commuter rail between the city and Ann Arbor.

For John Hertel, CEO of the Detroit Regional Mass Transit group, Monday's show of support was a victory, given that selling mass transit in Metro Detroit has historically been a tough task.

"These things have failed 23 times in the last half century," he said following the meeting. "This time it passed and it passed unanimously. What they've approved is a truly regional plan -- a plan that will serve this area for the next 25 years."

Macomb County Board of Commissioners Chairman William Crouchman said one of Hertel's keys to success is that the system is ridership-based. New lines of transportation open only after the ridership demand has been demonstrated.

"John is approaching it from the right angle," Crouchman said. "He's building a consensus on each issue before moving on to the next one.

"We're all rolling in the same direction, which is a unique thing in this region sometimes."

The next step for the mass transit plan is to establish a cooperative governing body for the effort -- one that provides representation for each of the municipal partners. It's a task Hertel plans to tackle with the start of the new year.

The end product will likely be a public-private partnership designed to take advantage of potential changes to state law allowing for designated tax zones to help fund transit line maintenance.

But after that comes the matter of funding the plans. A full price tag for the work is elusive right now, but hundreds of millions of dollars are going to be required for each portion of the project. With that in mind, local leaders are banking on a large influx of federal dollars to make the plan a reality.

Despite the nation's economic tailspin, leaders said this is a good time to be targeting federal funding.

"It's ideal right now because you have President-elect Barack Obama talking about infrastructure dollars as a key part of his stimulus plan," said Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. "But you've also got people in this region finally saying 'It's time to get some things done.' And that includes finally dealing with mass transit ...

"This is sort of like a perfect storm coming together."

You can reach Jim Lynch at (586) 468-0520 or jlynch@detnews.com.