Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Detroit

Suburban Separatists Threaten Detroit’s Dream of Functional Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 2, 2016 | No Comments

In the last few years, it seemed like Detroit and its suburbs had shaken off the deep anti-urban pathologies that had always stood in the way of a robust regional transit system. Almost four years ago, officials from the Detroit region won state permission to establish a regional transit authority (RTA), the result of a heroic effort. It […]

The Fight for Better Access to Jobs in Detroit and Milwaukee, Using Buses

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 14, 2016 | No Comments

Low-income residents of Detroit and Milwaukee face formidable obstacles to job access. These two Rust Belt regions are consistently ranked among the most segregated in the country, and neither has a good transit system. In both regions, the places that have been growing and adding jobs fastest have been been overwhelmingly sprawling, suburban areas inaccessible to people without cars. A 2013 Brookings study […]

Parking Madness: Louisville vs. Troy

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 28, 2016 | 10 Comments

So far Streetsblog readers have voted on seven head-to-head matchups in our 2016 Parking Madness tournament. Soon we’ll be down to the Elite Eight of parking craters. (You can still vote in the Long Beach vs. Muncie poll, which we’re extending to account for the holiday weekend in California.) But first, there’s one more pair of asphalt horrors in the running […]

The Complete Case Against Highway Widening in Detroit

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 1, 2016 | 3 Comments

Michigan DOT wants to spend $1 billion rebuilding and widening I-75 to Detroit’s sprawling northern suburbs, at the expense of the city and close-in suburbs. Royal Oak, a walkable suburb that borders the city, is not having it. The City Council passed a resolution unanimously this week officially opposing the widening of I-75 as well as […]

With Widening of I-75, Michigan DOT Will Deliver Another Blow to Detroit

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 26, 2016 | 13 Comments

The city of Detroit lost a stunning 25 percent of its population between 2000 and 2010. Even as the city struggles heroically to repair the damage, the Michigan state government is undermining Detroit’s fragile recovery. Leave it to Michigan DOT to come in and make Detroit’s problems worse. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the state DOT […]

Detroit Bus Driver Contract Offers Bonuses When Ridership Rises

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 7, 2015 | 1 Comment

A new labor contract between the Detroit Department of Transportation and ATU Local 26 explicitly ties bus driver bonuses to ridership increases. If farebox revenue goes up, 30 percent of the increase will belong to drivers, up to a certain point, DDOT announced earlier this week. Individual drivers’ bonuses are capped at $350 per year the first year and can rise […]

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