Woodward Train Revisited

The Woodward Light Rail project is, by most accounts, actually going to happen. After an environmental impact study is complete, construction will begin on the first half of the line, which will extend from the river to West Grand Boulevard. The project is funded through a combination of public and private money, and Dave Bing is adamant that it's going to get done (literally, he said, "It's going to happen").

When people first hear that a light rail line is going to be built on Woodward, they are generally pretty skeptical. Detroit is promised a lot of things that never come to fruition, such as the constant succession of planned renovation projects for abandoned buildings. And, of course, it's easy to look at the People Mover and conclude that Detroit is not serious about mass transit. It would be great if we could build a world-class train system to carry passengers and spur development up and down Detroit's major avenues, but it can seem more like an urban planner's dream scenario than a potential reality for city at the brink of total collapse.

But I urge you not to be so pessimistic about mass transit in Detroit. The People Mover is far from the height of the city's transit planning. Detroit's streetcar system, which obviously included a Woodward line, operated nineteen routes at its peak in the middle of the twentieth century. So, remember that the proposed Woodward Avenue Light Rail would not be the first train to travel up and down the center of Woodward. If you need to see it with your own eyes, I will direct you to these two photographs, taken by Arthur Siegel in July, 1942:

Woodward looking south towards downtown from the Maccabees Building at Warren Ave. (Image from the Library of Congress)

Woodward looking north from the Maccabees Building. (Image from the Library of Congress)

On April 8, 1956, the Woodward line was the last piece of the system to be dismantled. The city's rail system was taken down in the 1950s as a result of the introduction of buses, which were considered more flexible and safer for riders, as they could be boarded from the curb as opposed to the middle of the street. Citizens of Detroit, however, mostly opposed the removal of the streetcars (Detroit Transit History).

We often hear that public transportation in Detroit was doomed by the city's obsession with automobiles. While this is true to some degree, keep in mind that Detroit's transit system was not always as embarrassing as you might think. The idea of a train traveling down Woodward or any of Detroit's avenues is not totally outrageous. Think of it this way: Detroit is not really building a train system, it's beginning to re-build it. And if you simply don't think cities need efficient mass transit or that it's a waste of money, I can only suggest that you join the rest of us in the twenty-first century.

Note: Arthur Siegel also took this photograph, which I posted earlier. These two are from the same collection of photos taken for the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.