Transportation

War is hell. It's also very profitable for some Metro Detroit suburbs. Billions of dollars in defense contracts are pouring into communities like Troy, Sterling Heights, Warren and Ann Arbor, and the companies there are finding new jobs for auto engineers who are willing to adapt.
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Frontier Spirit, Urban Ideas

By: Tanya Muzumdar, 10/8/2009

Splitting her time between the Motor City suburbs and the Mile High City, Metromode's Tanya Muzumdar sees ideas and innovations ripe for importation. Maybe instead of going it alone, Metro Detroit should consider going West for some urban inspiration. (more >)

The Rail Thing, Is Metro Detroit On Track?

By: Tanya Muzumdar, 9/10/2009

If you've never heard of transit-oriented development, it really needs a spot on your hot list. With a transit center planned for Birmingham and Troy, Metro Detroit is back to workin' on the railroad. But maybe the new D Train could take a lesson from the Santa Fe Express. (more >)

Metro Mass Transit - What It Needs

By: Michelle Martinez, 6/11/2009

Regional cooperation. Which, unfortunately, Metro Detroit doesn't have a very good track record with. If light rail and enhanced express buses are to succeed, suburbanites and city slickers are going to have to learn to sit thigh to thigh - physically and metaphorically. (more >)

Smart Cars in Metro Detroit: Still Smart?

By: Tanya Muzumdar, 4/23/2009

Eighteen months ago Metromode checked out the newly arrived Smart Car as one of several new cool commuter options. So how has this sporty new 'wee'-hicle done in the land of hulking Hummers and SUVs? And more importantly, what do Metro Detroiters think of their micro-mini (but ever-so green) purchase? (more >)

Blog/Megan Owens

Ironically, early auto workers once rode the streetcar to work in factories. This new model year, facing a crumbled rail system and plant closings, the communities of greater Detroit are assembling a regional transit authority. Megan Owens, the executive director of Transportation Riders United, outlines a timeline of transit and what's needed to make the jump from jalopy to streamlined bus service and regional light rail.
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Video/Jacobsen Daniels: Planning Airports and the Aerotropolis

In eight years this airport planning firm has grown more than ten fold, bought a building in downtown Ypsilanti and count many of the nation's biggest airports as their clients. From internships to aerotropolis development, Jacobsen Daniels is not only the kind of new economy business Michigan needs more of, they are passionately invested in their community's future. (more >)