US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood sent a letter to Roger Penske and the M-1 Rail team today, saying:
"I am writing to reiterate my strong support for the M-1 Rail Streetcar Project . . .
"Before we can move forward, however, a number of issues must be resolved, . . . including development of a creditble plan approved by all funding partners to cover both short-term and long-term operating costs . . . And finally, considerable progress on the authorization of a properly constituted regional transit authority to serve the greater transit needs of the region and serve as the eventual operator of the M-1 Rail project.
"Given these challenges, I regret to tell you that we do not anticipate being able to provide funding from this current round of TIGER grants. However, up to $25 million in alternative sources of Federal transportation funding may be rapidly available, contingent upon the ability of M-1 Rail, along with State and local stakeholders, to satisfactorily realize the mitigations cited above.
"In anticipation of our ability to resolve the remaining issues, I am directing the Federal Transit Administration to initiate the necessary Federal environmental work for the project."
The M-1 Rail team shared with me a memo in reponse:
"We are confident that those questions will be answered, and welcome the time and opportunity to work with the Governor, Mayor and U.S. Department of Transportation to provide every assurance that this project will be successful and sustainable.
"We are particularly encouraged that . . . in anticipation of our success that the U.S. DOT is initiating the necessary Federal environmental work for the project to move into construction.
We wish to thank the U.S. Department of Transportation for its continued foresight and cooperation as we work to create this unprecedented public/private partnership initiative that we believe is vital to Detroit’s growth and economic turnaround."
So it’s not big news, but it is nice to hear continued support. And starting the environmental work is an important step. We’ll see where it goes from here.