After years of planning and the weeks of political controversy that nearly derailed it, the Troy Transit Center is on track to be built and made into a crucial cog in a regional transportation system for metro Detroit and Michigan.
Michele Hodges, president of the Troy Chamber of Commerce, which has been a leader on the project since the beginning, says the transit center will "be transformative" not only for the city and the neighborhood at Maple and Coolidge where it will be built, but also for the mass transit system as a whole and for the way public projects such as this are maintained using private sector dollars.
The chamber is lining up funding from local businesses to pay for the operation of the center, which will be built with federal dollars. Originally the center was to cost $8.5 million and be paid for through federal department of transportation funds, but after objections were raised, the city council voted to scale it back to a $6.3 million project.
"Of course we feel the bigger project was the better project," Hodges says. "When you limit the building footprint, you limit space for paying tenants or ad space. However, the essence of leadership is compromise.
"Yes, we had to give, but we still feel we are meeting the ultimate goal, which is to produce an asset that will create jobs, enhance the tax base, and keep Troy as a community of choice," she says.
The Troy Transit Center will be located on the southwest corner of Maple and Coolidge roads and will be multi-modal, meaning it will be used for multiple forms of transportation, namely Amtrak's Wolverine Line which travels to Chicago with stops in between. There will be bus service, as well as taxis and shuttle vans. Bike paths will lead to the center, which will also be located across the street from an airport.
"Amtrak's Wolverine line…it's already one of the more successful lines and they intend to make it the premier line west of the Appalachians," Hodges says. "In communities where they've made the investment they've seen a commercial and residential renaissance."
Under federal guidelines the center should be opened by October 2013, but that may be a difficult deadline to meet and an extension may be requested. In Dearborn, where a larger multi-modal transit station is being built, there are delays.
The project, which is part of the Detroit Regional Mass Transit Plan, had the support of Gov. Rick Snyder and Automation Alley.
Support from them and others "made me clearly understand the negative impact this would have had on our peers…if hadn't passed," Hodges says. "Most clearly this has regional impact."
Source: Michele Hodges, president, Troy Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Kim North Shine
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