On February 8, an exciting new documentary will debut focused on Detroit transportation, titled "Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City," as part of the PBS special series on infrastructure, Blueprint America.  TRU staff, volunteers, and partners were pleased to assist in the creation of this film. 

It examines how Detroit, a grim symbol of America’s diminished status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in America and asks whether it is time to fundamentally change the way Detroiters — and by extension all Americans — get around. Detroit is the crucible in which the nation’s ability to move toward a modern 21st century transportation infrastructure is put to the test.

The documentary shows how investments in the past profoundly shaped Detroit’s physical layout, population growth and economic development. Detroit’s engineers inspired much of America’s 20th century transportation infrastructure system.

But over the last 30 years, much of the world has moved on, choosing faster, cleaner, more modern transportation and leaving America — and Detroit — behind. Yet amidst Detroit’s abandoned factories and decimated neighborhoods the documentary-makers find many people with new ideas about what a 21st century system might look like.

Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City shows how the auto industry puts Detroit in perhaps the best position to transform itself for the transportation of the future. Using CGI animation combined with present day footage of Detroit, the film brings the vision of the city’s possible transportation future to life in a sequence depicting a commuter’s ride into the city.

Filmmaker Aaron Woolf says, “If you look at the city’s history, you realize that it has led the way in adapting to different forms of transportation, and if Detroit’s public transit advocates prevail, it may once again lead the way in how America gets around. I can think of no other city where the need for a complete transportation overhaul is as urgent.”

Check out the preview and full description at www.PBS.org/wnet/BlueprintAmerica/.