After more than 70 years without public transportation between northern and southern Michigan, the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is proposing to upgrade an existing freight route to establish the North + South Passenger Rail, a train service connecting communities from Detroit to Petoskey.
Groundwork is a Michigan-based nonprofit organization whose Transportation & Community Design program leads the initiative proposing the 300-mile project between southeast and northwest Michigan, including stops in Ann Arbor and Traverse City.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Carolyn Ulstad, manager of the Transportation & Community Design program, said the plan’s three overarching goals are economic development, accessibility and sustainability.
“We come to this at Groundwork through that lens of really trying to build communities, making them more resilient, creating places that work for people, creating stronger social networks and fabrics,” Ulstad said.
Trains Not Lanes is a community campaign that previously protested the Michigan Department of Transportation’s proposed widening of highway US-23 in support of expanding other forms of public transit. In an interview with The Daily, Adam Goodman, Trains Not Lanes organizer, said he was initially confused about why the route didn’t reach larger cities, but then realized it will connect fragmented communities.
“It’s a lot about providing transportation access to all of the people who live up north who are disconnected from the rest of the state,” Goodman said. “You need to come down to go to the University of Michigan Hospital for treatment or travel to go to college. As I learned more about this project, I realized that there is a really important sort of transportation purpose to it.”
Groundworks proposes to renovate the freight route instead of building new tracks, an approach shortening the project timeline and decreasing adverse environmental effects. Goodman said if this project required completely new construction instead of renovation, the project would be less feasible.
“If there was not existing track, or at least an existing property arrangement that allowed them to build track, I don’t imagine a project like this would be financially feasible at all,” Goodman said. “Now, the existing track is not in the best condition, so there’s still a need for a lot of investments to upgrade it, at least if we want these trains to run about 40 miles an hour, which we do want that. But it saves a ton of work.”
Ulstad said the route is intended to provide transportation access across Michigan for rural communities and college towns. For students living in northern Michigan, returning home from campus is difficult without a car. In an interview with The Daily, Taubman junior Ava Young said she typically drives or carpools with other students home to Traverse City during breaks, but there are drawbacks.
“If there’s ever a car issue it becomes an extra stress,” Young said. “At the end of the summer, I had a problem with my car, and so it was either find someone to borrow (from) who wasn’t using it or catch a ride with someone. … It can be a challenge when there’s no other form of transportation beside relying on someone else or having your own vehicle.”
Ulstad said the project isn’t a new concept; it has roots in the Grand Vision: a mid-2000s movement advocating for a return to transportation practices of the early 20th century with an emphasis on public transit, walking and biking.
“It was still in the memory banks of some people being like, ‘We used to be able to take a train and we’d love to do that again,’” Ulstad said. “But then it just came up as this idea that people would really love to see northern Michigan connected like how southern Michigan is connected. There’s three Amtrak routes to the south. Could there be something further north? And then Groundwork was like, ‘Let’s explore that.’”
In 2018, Groundwork began this five-step project by conducting a feasibility study, examining whether community members would support the proposed route. They are nearly finished with the service planning study, which researches routes, stops and scheduling. Ulstad said, even if the proposal is a success, she thinks it may be a decade before work begins on the line.
“The process for each step takes a while,” Ulstad said. “So it’ll probably be at least still a decade, realistically.”
Despite Groundwork holding stakeholder meetings and organizing community advisory committees in regions along the proposed line, many residents remain unaware of the project and the potential benefits it could provide. Young said more dialogue between Groundwork and residents might help promote this project.
“Focusing on trying to implement more public transport options into those areas is super great,” Young said. “I think that more knowledge around that can push these projects along a little bit quicker — more advocacy for it. Because I do think people would appreciate the option. I know I would.”
Daily Staff Reporter Hannah Bodnar can be reached at bodnar@umich.edu.
