Detroit's QLINE Streetcar: Getting on Track with Partnerships, Innovation and Tenacity

The May 12, 2017, opening of Detroit's QLINE streetcar, built at a cost of $142 million along 3.3 miles of historic Woodward Avenue, heralds a giant step forward for mass transit and economic development.

Woodward Avenue was first platted in 1805 and has served as a state highway since 1913. The QLINE's six vehicles run along a corridor that is home to many of Detroit's leading businesses, educational institutions and medical centers, as well as venues for art, sports and entertainment.

The idea for a downtown streetcar began percolating about 10 years ago, when a group of Detroit-area business and educational leaders decided it was time to improve mass transit in the region. As a starting point, they chose a crucial stretch of Woodward Avenue.

"It would connect all of our key assets up and down the corridor," said Paul Childs, chief operating officer of M-1 Rail, the entity that owns and operates the QLINE.

M-1Rail projects that the QLINE will average 5,000 to 8,000 rides per day.

Planning and initial construction of the QLINE occurred as Detroit battled financial struggles that resulted in a Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which lasted from July 2013 to December 2014.

Throughout the process, from establishing the ownership group to choosing the vehicles, stakeholders took innovative steps to reach their goal.  

"The achievement of getting this done in Detroit at that time, the symbolic nature of this actually happening, being completed on time and on budget, is very important, because nothing like that had happened in a very long time," Childs said. 

 Laying the groundwork

The group that envisioned the street car included executives and officials from Penske Corp., Deloitte Consulting, the University of Detroit, Henry Ford Hospital, the city of Detroit and regional transit entities and other organizations. 

"The issue always turns out to be money," Childs said. "The business community architected a method and said, 'here's the capital cost, here’s the operating cost, here's how we will set this up.'/"

Owner-operator M-1 Rail and M-2 Rail, the developer-builder, were established as nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organizations. The combination of the two entities enabled the streetcar to receive-via the Michigan Department of Transportation-two federal grants totaling $37.2 million. Private entities raised more than $100 million in business and philanthropic donations.

As a venture of nonprofit organizations, it was crucial that the streetcar project stay on budget. "The financing and the owner's goals drove us to take a risk-based approach," said Matthew Webb, senior project manager for HNTB, which served as the owner's rep and civil engineering manager. "We looked for project delivery methods that would deliver the project on time and within budget, and provide the quality expected by the owner and 16 different business and philanthropic investors."

Surviving a "near-death" experience

Early in the planning stage, the QLINE project was nearly derailed when Detroit Transportation Options for Growth (DTOGS) sought funding for an eight-mile light rail line along the Woodward Avenue corridor.

Childs said there was talk of combining the QLINE project with the DTOGS project, and using the QLINE financing mechanism to help DTOGS get started. But then the city and the Federal Transit Administration said neither project would receive funding.

"It felt like it was near death," Childs recalled.

But M-1 Rail and its partners refused to give up. They told officials such as former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and members of Michigan's congressional delegation that they would overcome all hurdles to get the project done. In response, LaHood said the QLINE would be eligible for a federal grant if progress was demonstrated, and the project went back on track.

Coordination with utility companies

Childs says one of M-1's key strategies was working cooperatively with utility companies. "We sat down with the utilities and talked to them about their need to improve things along the corridor, how we could work together in order to do this, and how we could minimize their costs while allowing them to prepare for the future."

HNTB created a 3-D model of underground utility infrastructure in the corridor. "Based on that, we were able to convince the utilities that everything did not have to be relocated," Webb says. "That was one of the things that allowed us to deliver the project within the fixed available budget."

Minimizing visual disruptions, choosing the right vehicles

Another of M-1's goals was to minimize visual disruptions along the route.

"We have a number of historic structures up and down the corridor, and there is a park near the southern terminus," Childs said. "We wanted to minimize visual clutter from OCS (Overhead Catenary System) poles."

That goal was achieved by using off-wire technology, specifically lithium-ion batteries, along 60 percent of the streetcar route.

The quest to minimize visual disruption played into the choice of vehicles. "HNTB stayed abreast of the design of the utilities, the track and the OCS to help M-1 choose the most appropriate vehicle for the project," Childs said.

The vehicle chosen was the Liberty Modern Streetcar from Brookville Equipment Corp. in Brookville, Pa. "We are proud to work with the only U.S.-based designer and manufacturer of streetcars," Matt Cullen, president and CEO of M-1 Rail, said in April.

Economic impact

In the shadow of municipal bankruptcy, the QLINE has revved up economic development up and down its route. "Once the project put a shovel in the ground (in 2013), that's when it became real for everybody," Childs said. "That's when the economic development story took root. Over that time frame until now, there's been a little north of $7 billion of finished or committed or under-construction projects along the corridor."

Advice to other transit advocates  

Childs said a project such as QLINE is "all about partnerships. It's all about the business community, the philanthropic community, local, state and federal governments, all getting together. If everybody gets together, there are a lot of things you can do. If you've got the vision and you're tenacious enough, that vision will become reality."