MICHIGAN, CONNECTED.

A different way
forward.

Imagine more journeys by rail. More room on our roads.
A little more time to simply be.

CONCEPT STUDY · 01

A statewide vision.
Room to grow nationwide.

Explore the possibility

MICHIGAN TRAFFIC BASELINE

141.4 million

vehicle-miles per average day · all vehicles

51.6 billion vehicle-miles / year

State trunkline highways: I, US and M routes · 2023

MDOT Fast Facts 2025 ↗

Miles traveled, not unique drivers

A vehicle traveling 20 miles contributes 20 vehicle-miles. Counts at different road segments cannot be added to count people.

THE NETWORK

Michigan & the Great Lakes.

Regional network concept

GREAT LAKES
REGIONAL RAIL VISION

100%

Choose a corridor below to explore its stops.

Find a corridor or cityAll corridors

THE WHAT-IF

What if 25%
shifted to rail?

Start with published Michigan traffic.
Explore how much driving rail could replace.

Traffic baseline

Published traffic volume · passenger share and mode shift are assumptions.

Passenger travel shifting to rail 25%

0%100%

Passenger-vehicle share of mileage (%)80% is an editable assumption, not an MDOT measurement. Freight mileage is excluded by this assumption.

DAILY VEHICLE-MILES AVOIDED—annual-average day · modeled passenger travel

AVOIDED CAR CO₂ / YEAR—metric tonnes · before rail emissions

—of total highway mileage removed

Assumptions & methodology

Car CO₂ (grams / vehicle-mile)Rail CO₂ (grams / passenger-mile)Rail / road distance ratio

Net operational CO₂ requires a rail emissions assumption.

Published baselines include all vehicle types. Passenger share (initially 80%) is a scenario assumption. The shift applies to that share of mileage, not trucks or a measured number of people. It assumes shifted travel has the same average distance as remaining passenger travel. Each removed vehicle-mile becomes one passenger-mile before the rail/road distance adjustment.

Published mode: avoided car CO₂ = annual vehicle-miles × passenger share × shift × car factor. Daily averages divide by 365 (2023) or 366 (2024); no extra annualization is applied. Custom mode: drivers × shift × daily miles × travel days × car factor. Net subtracts rail passenger-miles × rail factor. Excludes access trips, construction, induced travel and upstream emissions; factors must use comparable boundaries.

The initial 400 g CO₂/mile is the EPA typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. This is a CO₂ scenario, not a full greenhouse-gas inventory.

SOURCED TRAFFIC + EDITABLE ASSUMPTIONS.

01 / CLEANER JOURNEYS

Less driving. Less exhaust.

Estimate avoided car emissions, then account for the energy and occupancy of new rail service.

02 / ROOM FOR FREIGHT

Keep essential traffic moving.

Fewer cars could ease bottlenecks for trucks. Travel-time gains need corridor traffic counts, peak demand and capacity modeling.

03 / TIME TO EXHALE

A journey you don’t have to drive.

Potential relief from driving stress depends on reliable trains, access, crowding and door-to-door time. Survey riders to measure it.