I refuse to get caught up in people mover expansion speculation until I see earth being moved and concrete forms being poured.
With that out of the way it’s an interesting moment in time commuter rail is coming back to Michigan Central along with a Metro Airport link & a hookup into the national grid that isn’t part of the Chicago hub.
I hope nothing terrible is on the horizon Detroit starts talking subway in the 20’s the mayor advocating a particular method of development dies after depleting the city’s coffers to buy the streetcar lines, resulting in a policy 180. Then a few year later the Great Depression hits. Detroit starts talking subway and elevated rail during the Ford era. The 80’s hit American manufacturing square in the nuts & we waste our timed funds bickering who spends what & where. Well we’re not talking subways so maybe we’re safe this time.
It’s nice to see the conversation being had the possibility of further moving the needle forward on Detroit area mass transit.
Speaking of another why the hell don’t we do this or have this already.
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The Port of Monroe, on Michigan's Lake Erie shore, also received federal funding for such infrastructure in 2022. Local officials and executives at Ford Motor Company are hoping to ship Mustangs from Michigan directly to Europe after construction on a finishing plant adjacent to the port finishes later this year.
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Investments in year-round shipping
Some, like Varela and Skrzypczak, hope the Great Lakes waterway can keep expanding its shipping season, similar to 2023's record length. The 2022 National Defense spending bill earmarked $350 million for the Coast Guard to build the first heavy icebreaker on the Great Lakes in decades. A long-delayed expansion of the Soo Locks, which connects Lake Superior to the Lower Great Lakes, may also allow the shipping season to extend year-round.
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https://www.npr.org/2024/01/19/12242...lakes-shipping
The Port of Detroit is looking to expand its operations as well. Most local shipping, transportation & logistics have been in private hands the city & region can certainly move more than they do now with better public facilities to the betterment of the economy as a whole.
FY10-Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority Rail Access Improvement Program:
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The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority will construct approximately 1,275 linear feet of track from an existing main rail line into its 35-acre general cargo facility. The main line runs from Detroit to Fort Wayne. This new spur will facilitate multimodal opportunities, including exports of agricultural products, movement of alternative energy components and other project cargoes.
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https://www.federalgrants.com/FY10-D...ram-43726.html
With national security concerns finally bringing the powers that be over to the opinion that unlimited offshoring of manufacturing isn’t a great idea a study was done to find out if it’s possible to source the needed resources to transition to greener technology. It turns out that not only do we have them domestically but they’re in the same location that traditional resources are in relation to our major manufacturing centers.
If we’re going to do big mining around southern Lake Superior again let’s do it right this time. Hopefully in a way that leaves the communities in a healthy state ready to continue being a good place to live, work & play after the minerals are extracted. It’s becoming quite contentious as high paying jobs are scarce in rural communities while they rely heavily on tourism, hunting & fishing.
Washington — The Lake Superior region could be home to as much nickel as Russia or Canada, some of the largest nickel producers in the world, according to estimates by the United States Geological Survey.
https://www.detroitnews.com/restrict...gical%20Survey.
Geologists and mining experts say Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula may provide a solution for an obstacle facing the electric vehicle transition.
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Minerals are needed, and this area has them.
U.S. manufacturers are largely dependent on foreign countries like China, Russia and Indonesia for critical minerals like nickel and cobalt, which are key materials for electric vehicle batteries. Automakers increasingly are looking for domestic supplies, and northern Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – a geological area bordering Lake Superior dubbed the Midcontinent Rift – may provide the solution.
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https://www.thecentersquare.com/mich...92a6e.amp.html
This is getting a bit off topic the resource discovery only tangentially relates to Great Lakes shipping and the expansion of Detroit and Monroe Port Facilities. However Detroit has really neglected its water transportation infrastructure & it holds the key position between the upper and lower Great Lakes while allowing relatively easy road and rail passages at the narrows. A national shift towards fostering sustainable green energy development is likely going to have to rely at least in part on the Great Lakes as a transportation system.
Industrial and economic infrastructure growth isn’t really what this page is about but it’s important for the city, state & region to grow as long as it’s done responsibly. Traditionally when manufacturing has been strong and the resource base for raw materials in the Superior Highlands the GL waterways have been among the busiest in the world. Not expecting again but we could cash in on being part of the interior coast if we expand public facilities for import and export.
Here’s an article with a couple maps showing who owns what and prospective sites. This example’s from the Searria Club showing potential mining sites such as the proposed Black 40 open pit gold mine in Menominee that has been successfully fought over the past several years. It also shows in the UP who owns the mineral rights and who is proposing dangerous methods of extraction.
https://www.sierraclub.org/wisconsin...d-mine-project