One of the more esoteric proposals of the 1950s was for Detroit to build a city monorail system and extend it to the suburbs. I drew a map of the plan.

Before I start, the obligatory monorail GIF.

Historical notes:

Most of Detroit's subway plans tend to look similar, because Metro Detroit's street layout lends itself very well to that kind of construction. And all of the major surface thoroughfares - Michigan, Woodward, Gratiot and so forth, were designed to be wide enough for subway tracks in the median. This 1958 plan proposed by the City of Detroits Rapid Transit Commission proposed to put not subway tracks, but monorail tracks above the streets. They bought in 100% to the idea that the monorail would be a revolutionary transport technology, though that never really panned out in the real world.

(There's three reasons monorail never panned out. 1, monorails aren't standardized like trains, so if you buy a Lanley Monorail, you're stuck using their technology forever. 2, monorail tunnels have to be built bigger than subway tunnels - about 15% bigger - so if you plan to put anything underground you're going to have a hard time. it is cheaper to built aerial monorail structures than standard elevated rail tracks like the ones you have in Chicago, though.)

/r/Detroit Thread Link - i.redd.it