Watch CBS News

Downtown Work Continues On Detroit M-1 Rail Project

DETROIT (WWJ) - An important section of the M-1 Rail is being put in place Monday morning as construction crews work on the first stretch of the project in Detroit.

M-1 Rail CEO Paul Childs said it will be like a three-mile long railroad crossing, but there will be a big difference.

"It will be smooth, you'll be driving with it - cars can actually drive in the same lane as the streetcar, so it's not a dedicated lane, we share it with traffic," Childs told WWJ's Ron Dewey.

"This is an exciting day," Childs continued, saying, "This is our first rail-pull day, by the end of the week ... we should have some of the rail up on grade ... we've still got another 4,000 feet of rail that we have to pull in this week -- get it all set up -- and we'll be paving the southbound side first and then come back north. The north sides won't happen for a couple of weeks."

While the project is on schedule, it has not been without effort.

"As soon as you open the road up - it's kind of like having a pickup truck - you get a lot of friends - everybody says 'hey, I just want to do this little project - can you help me do this? Can you cooperate with me to do that? ... So we've been doing all those things to help out with the businesses as much as we can, whether it's DPW for drainage or any of the telecommunication companies."

Childs says when the tracks are completed within the project it will be as smooth to drive over as a grate.

The work is targeted to be completed in time for the Thanksgiving Day parade.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.