advertisement

---

The M-1 Rail streetcar project in Detroit can move forward "immediately" using a $25 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant previously awarded for transit in the city, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Friday.

The grant will be used to help pay for construction of a planned 3.3-mile streetcar line designed to help revitalize Detroit's historic Woodward Avenue corridor, U.S. Department of Transportation officials said in a prepared statement.

The nonprofit M-1 Rail Corp. – a coalition of private businesses, foundations, and public and private institutions — has committed more than $100 million toward construction and operation of the $137 million project. The remainder will be funded by state and local sources. M-1 Rail Corp. initially will operate the streetcar line.

The funding announcement comes weeks after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law legislation creating a Regional Transportation Authority to develop and operate public transportation projects in Detroit and across the state.

The line will include 11 stations, with connections to Campus Martius; Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team; Detroit Medical Center; and Wayne State University.