U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is scheduled to visit Metro Detroit today for meetings with Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Governor Rick Snyder. LaHood said that nothing could stop a high-speed rail line designed to connect Detroit with Chicago when he delivered a $200 million federal grant to purchase and upgrade tracks between Dearborn and Kalamazoo in May. He’s also pushed for the creation of a $550 million light-rail corridor along Woodward Avenue stretching from Detroit’s downtown to 8 Mile. That project gained more federal funding last week to study extending the proposed rail line to downtown Birmingham. But LaHood meets with Bing, Snyder and officials from Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties at a time when bus transportation is on the chopping block. The suburban SMART bus system announced last week it would eliminate 15 routes and make substantial cuts in its workforce beginning in December, while bus service in Detroit continues to suffer delays as a result of a dispute between the city and the union representing mechanics.