Woodward Avenue in Detroit should be free of orange barrels and open to traffic in the days before Thanksgiving as construction of M-1 Rail's QLine streetcar project enters its final months, project organizers said Thursday.

Behind the scenes, the project is seeking to raise millions of dollars for a reserve fund intended to cover operations for the 6.6-mile loop's first 10 years of passenger service, which is expected to begin in early 2017 — possibly as soon as April, if the system passes more than 1,000 state and federal tests.

The project so far has raised $187.3 million, in a mix of private, public and foundation money, to cover capital, operational and other costs, M-1 Rail CEO Matt Cullen said during a briefing with reporters Thursday afternoon at the system's Penske Technical Center headquarters in New Center.

M-1 said it has $21.4 million stashed away for operations. Based on an estimate of $5.8 million to run the system annually, backers would need to raise as much as $37 million to cover operational costs through 2027. That's the year M-1 has agreed to turn over the system to the public Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, which will ask voters in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties in November to approve a property tax that would raise $3 billion over 20 years to pay for improved mass transit, including the QLine's operations.

M-1 not having the full 10 years worth of operational funds banked spooked those involved in the RTA, and that organization in recent weeks opted to push back when it would assume control of the streetcar line by three years.

Cullen said M-1 has seven years' worth of operational funding covered. He said M-1 expects fare box revenue and other forms of income, such as advertising sales, to cover about half of the annual operating costs. The remainder would come from the reserve fund.

If passenger fare expectations hold up, M-1 would end up needing just $18.7 million to cover the remaining three years of operational costs.

That money is expected to come from a forthcoming pitch to larger employers along the route, which runs from Grand Boulevard to Congress Street, who would buy bulk passes for employees, Cullen said. That could include Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies, and the major employers such as hospitals and corporations.

"There are a lot of people that have not contributed that we would like to ask (for donations)," Cullen said.

M-1 also could seek donations from the corporate world, more advertising commitments or use other funding mechanisms to bank the rest of the operations money.

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. spent $5 million on naming rights with M-1 Rail earlier this year to call the streetcar the QLine. Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert is M-1 Rail's co-chairman and has invested $10 million into the project, which is being funded by a mixture of corporate, foundation and public money.