Regional Transit Advances

A Michigan House subcommittee last week approved three bills that would authorize a bond-issuing regional authority to oversee a 400-mile mass transit system running throughout the Detroit area.

The bills now go to the full House for consideration. The system would feature a network of buses, light rail and commuter trains running across Detroit and Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.

Detroit is the only one of the country’s 40 largest metropolitan areas that does not have a regional public transportation network, a legislative analysis of the bills by the House Fiscal Agency noted. 

The bills are needed to secure federal funding for the plan to build a light-rail system along Detroit’s Woodward Avenue and other local projects. In the past, lack of regional cooperation has led to lack of federal funding, House analysts said.

The Michigan House Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs Committee approved the measures. If approve by voters, the authority would have the power to levy a new tax to finance the system and issue revenue bonds. Its members would be appointed by Detroit’s mayor, the governor, and the three county executives.

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