Now the monorail shows off a postcard view of the Renaissance Center area, but mostly serves as a reminder of the downtown that once was. ![]() In 1985, Federal officials ordered the city to take over the project, which had been managed by a regional agency, the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority. Midway through the construction dozens of concrete beams on which the trains run either cracked or shattered and had to be repaired. Young and other Detroit politicians, Congress approved the venture and ordered that most of its financing be borne by Federal taxpayers. Federal transportation officials were skeptical of the idea, but after heavy lobbying by Mayor Coleman A. The People Mover has had problems from the start. The trains have voice monitors and panic buttons that instantly put riders in touch with central control, officials said. Although police officers are not patrolling the trains, there are armed security guards at each of the system's 13 stations. Some residents envision themselves trapped between stops, 20 feet above ground, a mugger, or worse, in the train.Ĭity officials have gone to great lengths to allay those fears. The one- and two-car driverless trains are run by computer from a central control room. The biggest fear with the People Mover is crime. The center has lost dozens of retailers and hundreds of millions of dollars since it opened 10 years ago. Biggest Fear Is Crimeĭetracters worry that the monorail may suffer the same problem as the city's crown jewel, the Renaissance Center, an urban mall unable to attract enough shoppers. Now they expect about 16,000 a day and, in a city of cars and commuters, some say even that is overly optimistic. Officials once predicted that as many as 55,000 people would ride the People Mover each day. Now the People Mover is a solitary track dependent mainly on downtown office workers, about 100,000 altogether. But with about $65 million in cost overruns from the People Mover, Federal money expected to be used for a subway system went to the downtown loop instead. That figure is well below projections of 15,000 a day despite an extensive rail system that feeds commuters to the downtown monorail.ĭetroit's People Mover was originally intended to be part of a larger rail system linking the city and its suburbs. The 1.9-mile Metromover in downtown Miami opened in April 1986 and has since drawn 11,000 riders a day. The Detroit monorail is the second such system in the country. Today city officials put those brickbats aside and celebrated the opening with balloons in the shape of a People Mover car. ''It will make a nice-looking Stonehenge,'' said a respondent to the Free Press poll. And in a poll by The Detroit News conducted before the system was completed, two-thirds of the respondents said they would not ride the monorail. In a poll by The Detroit Free Press this week, two-thirds of those surveyed said the People Mover was a bad idea. But critics call it ''a dogless tail'' and ''a horizontal elevator to nowhere.'' They argue that, until there are more places to go downtown, there will be no people to move. ![]() Now, it is expected to whisk riders between office buildings, restaurants and special events downtown, eventually spurring development along the route. It was built at a cost of $200.3 million, 80 percent of it Federal dollars, and has suffered setbacks ranging from cracked support beams to work stoppages by construction crews charging they had not been paid on time. Approximately $328 million in funding for the ITC has been secured to date, with an additional federal environmental review process expected to make the project eligible for new funding sources.Since its groundbreaking on Halloween morning four years ago, the monorail has been a curiosity, a butt of jokes, a magnet for controversy and a symbol of the obstacles to reviving a crumbling city. In addition to the northern terminus adjacent to the Crenshaw Line, plans also call for stops at Manchester Avenue and Hardy Avenue.Ĭity officials estimate that the project will generate up to 700 construction jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs. The ITC would run on a roughly 1.6-mile route, with automated electric vehicles running along an elevated viaduct above Market Street, Manchester Avenue, and Prairie Avenue. “Throughout this process, we have actively engaged with the community to develop a first-last mile solution that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on single-passenger vehicles improves air quality throughout the City and the region, and creates lasting job opportunities for Inglewood residents." “The ITC will help make our Metro system accessible to all and work as it’s intended to work: it will actually take people where they want to go, and it will incorporate the real needs of our community,” said Inglewood Mayor James Butts in a statement. Rendering of people mover station City of Inglewood
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