On the Fence

Ann Arbor City Council’s two recent resolutions about railroad fencing and US 23 expansion are good as far as they go, but need serious follow-up to be effective. 

It’s easy to be critical of MDOT in these two situations, but what’s really needed is to work with, not against MDOT. 

Building a fence to protect people from trains is not a bad idea, but there is a legitimate need to get safely to the other side. A fence will be necessary if the Border-to-Border trail is to be built along the narrow strip between Huron River Drive and the railroad. MDOT has money from the Federal Government to build the fence, but apparently can’t flex its funding to build safe ways to cross. Short-sighted Federal requirements? Indeed. But the solution is not to blame MDOT, the solution is to work with them. How? By putting local money on the table to help fund safe ped-bike crossings. A lot of the money provided in recent bipartisan infrastructure legislation specifically goes to localities that provide their own money. We can also work with our federal legislators to make grant requirements more flexible, to pay for crossings as well as fences. 

I’m told some dangerous misinformation was presented in the media about line-side railroad signals in the area. These signals are for the train crews, not pedestrians. A red signal may indicate that a train is coming from the opposite direction. A green signal tells the train crew it’s safe to operate at full speed on the next section of track, so a green signal actually indicates the greatest danger for pedestrians. 

The resolution asking MDOT not to expand US 23 also needs follow-up. Those of us who say, “Provide more public transit instead” are correct, but that’s not MDOT’s job. That’s the job of AAATA and the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority, both of which require local funds (i.e., our money) to operate effectively. And what about commuter or regional rail service? We won’t get that until we replace the existing Ann Arbor station, already overcrowded. We need to put money behind a new station, go to the Feds for funding and be forthright about our current and future needs. We could even start by funding serious regional bus service – not just downtown to downtown AA to Detroit. Find where people are actually driving from to get to Ann Arbor’s biggest employers (that would certainly include U of M) and work with the employers to provide meaningful bus alternatives. We need look no farther than Genesee County (Flint) MTA, that worked creatively a few years ago with out-of-county employers to get unemployed Flint industrial workers to new jobs. 

Meaningful solutions take more than talk. They require work. And money. Neither may be popular among politicians, but both are necessary for our community.