Editing Birmingham, Michigan (section)

==Infrastructure==
[[File:Merrill Street in Birmingham, Michigan.jpg|thumb|Merrill Street, with Merrillwood Apartments on left]]

===Transportation===
{{Further|Transportation in metropolitan Detroit}}
Birmingham was a [[stagecoach]] stop in the 19th century between Detroit and Pontiac. 
In 1839, the railroad tracks were extended to Birmingham with two steam trains a day running to Detroit.

On June 18, 1896, the [[Oakland Railway]], the electric [[interurban]], was constructed to Birmingham; it provided service to Detroit in 40 minutes. This service ended in 1931 as many passengers switched to the commuter rail and automobiles.

[[Amtrak]] provides long-distance passenger rail service on the [[Pontiac, Michigan|Pontiac]]–[[Detroit]]–[[Chicago]] [[Michigan Services|Wolverine]]. It stops in Birmingham three times per day in each direction at the [[Birmingham station (Michigan)|Birmingham, Michigan Amtrak station]]. Class one freight rail service is provided by [[Canadian National Railway]] (CN).

By 1931, the [[Grand Trunk Western Railroad]] (GTW) moved the railroad tracks to their present location. It provided [[SEMTA Commuter Rail|commuter rail service]] from Pontiac to downtown Detroit with a stop in Birmingham. The [[Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority]] (SEMTA) took control of this service in 1974 but it was ended on October 17, 1983, after subsidies were discontinued. Efforts continue to this day to restore such service.

In the 21st century, the [[Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation]] (SMART) and the [[Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan|Regional Transit Authority]] (RTA) operate local and regional bus transit.<ref>{{cite web|title=RTA RefleX Regional Service|url=http://www.rtamichigan.org/reflex/|website=RTA Michigan|publisher=Regional Transit Authority of Southeastern Michigan|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905103607/http://www.rtamichigan.org/reflex/|archive-date=5 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>