Such a decision may forever preclude rail service in the Traverse City area without the extraordinary difficulty of assembling land for new corridors. But it is also an immediate call to determine what type of rail service is feasible for the region. It will be as large as other urban areas served successfully by passenger rail and operating light rail systems. Rail service not only can play an integral role in serving transportation needs in the future. It can shape how the community will look.
Rail transit is part of an overall development and accessibility strategy.
To determine rail's success in meeting transportation, access, and other community goals, it is important to ask the right questions. Some of the answers are already evident. The Grand Traverse County master plan calls for managed growth through land use plans that increase development density and promote village centers. This is precisely the approach needed to support passenger rail service and put riders in close and convenient proximity to rail stations. A managed growth approach emphasizing village centers also is the pattern of development needed to support a light rail system, placing a majority of the population only a few minutes from transit stops.