Detroit
The Motor City’s New Transportation Plan is a Breath of Fresh Air
Detroit's new five-year transportation plan is all about making the city better for transit ridership, pedestrians and cyclists.
September 11, 2018
Global Business Press Impresario Keith Crain Pens Epic Anti-Bike Screed
Keith Crain, chief executive of Crain Communications, saw some bike lanes and wants you to know that he's very mad.
June 19, 2018
What Happened When a Detroit Politician Rode the Bus to Work
Two painfully slow bus rides, a hike through knee-deep grass, and a 2.5-hour one-way commute.
May 30, 2018
How Detroit’s Streetcar Overlooked Real Transit Needs to Satisfy a Well-Connected Few
Local government ceded decisions about the project to private benefactors, subordinating public goals to their interests and preferences.
March 14, 2018
Metro Detroit’s Highway Fixation Explains Why Our Infrastructure Is Broken
Only 20 percent of the region's highways are in good condition. And yet the regional transportation agency is planning $4 billion in highway widenings.
March 13, 2018
Suburban Segregationist Brooks Patterson Breaks Up Detroit’s Hard-Won Transit Coalition
Representing the region's primarily white northern suburbs, Patterson is blocking a transit measure that would improve job access for black Detroiters.
February 13, 2018
A Haunting Glimpse at How Detroit Gave Way to Asphalt and Cars
These before-and-after photos show how much the city changed in the span of a few generations.
January 10, 2018
Will Detroit Give the Dream of Better Transit Another Shot in 2018?
An expected anti-Trump wave could buoy a regional transit ballot measure over the top in 2018.
November 20, 2017
Highway Planners Pause to Consider the Effect of Road Widening on Detroit Neighborhoods
Standard practice for the highway planners at state DOTs is to sacrifice all other concerns at the altar of fast car traffic. Nowhere has the effect been more obviously detrimental than Detroit, where the overbuilt freeway system helped hollow out one of America's largest cities. But highway planners in Michigan are starting to listen to people who say they want something different.
June 19, 2017
Detroit’s Big Transit Success Story Isn’t Its New Streetcar — It’s the Buses
Today is the grand opening for the QLine, Detroit's 3.3-mile, mixed-traffic streetcar on Woodward Avenue. It's getting tons of local press attention, but TransitCenter reports that the Motor City's true transit renaissance is not due to the streetcar, but the city's successful, under-the-radar turnaround of its bus system.
May 12, 2017
