Federal gov't says "Yes" to Ann Arbor's Fuller Road Station

Last week's announcement of the city of Ann Arbor's $2.8 million grant award from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to put towards the Fuller Road multi-modal transit center caps years of unsuccessful applications for federally funded transportation projects. It also helps to validate the city's long-term transportation plan.

"Understand that there were $10 billion worth of requests, or applications, for $2 billion worth of funds. We were fortunate in that we were selected," says Eli Cooper, transportation program manager for the city of Ann Arbor. "There are another $8 billion of what are probably very good projects that heard what we've heard over the past couple of years."

This funding came in conjunction with the state of Michigan's receipt of $196.5 million for high speed rail service between Detroit and Chicago, to be used for track improvements on the Detroit-Kalamazoo stretch.

The city of Ann Arbor's grant will cover 80% of the estimated $3.5 million cost, or up to $2.8 million, to design a train station, rail platform, and rail infrastructure, and to conduct an environmental study to be reviewed by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

The city's preparation of a master concept plan and an environmental document, efforts going back to 2009, fulfills the remaining $700,000, or expected 20% match. No further city monies are needed, as Cooper understands it.

He estimates that the FRA's environmental review, subsequent public meetings, and a draft final report should be complete within six months. However, he emphasizes, this timeline is contingent on receipt of timely feedback from the FRA, a process out of the city's control.

A separate study and recently completed set of drawings integrating a commuter rail platform into the intermodal facility, referred to as phase 1.1, was also done to see how it would fit into the facility, but is not part of the original phase I master concept plan.

"We don't currently have commuter rail service and I don't know that I would recommend to [city] council that we initiate development of a commuter rail platform absent having firm dates from the commuter rail entities that this is part of what they're going to do in the time-frame that we're working in," Cooper says.

"The construction of the platform and elements to bring the commuter rail to this location could occur within the time-frame for building the phase I project, so we have opportunities to come back to it but in my opinion it's premature for us to add the commuter rail platform to the phase I project."

The federal award means the city is already on its way towards designing a train station with an approximately 900-foot-long platform to serve Amtrak trains. A 300-foot expanse is all that's needed for commuter rail, Cooper says; commuter trains would thereby use the same platform.

Projecting further out, by summer 2012 Cooper expects to have the preliminary design completed and then used as a basis for construction funding applications.

Source: Eli Cooper, transportation program manager, city of Ann Arbor
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar