Birmingham, Troy move forward with transit center plans

The slow train of mass transit reform may still be a bit in the distance, but it's picking up steam in Birmingham.

The city is working with Troy to create a $6 million transit center just on the Birmingham side of the border between the cities. Although still in the planning stages, the cities hope line up funding for it soon and start putting shovels in the ground within a few years.

The transit center building will cost about $4 million and will facilitate a variety of modes of transportation. It will be built along heavy rail tracks that will eventually become part of the proposed northern leg of the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line. It will also facilitate buses, cabs, bicyclists and pedestrians.

There has also been talk of building a streetcar line in an east-west direction from the transit center. Such a line would connect Troy's Somerset Collection and Pavilions of Troy to Birmingham's booming downtown, Rail District and Triangle District.

The other $2 million would pay for a tunnel underneath the tracks that could connect both communities.

Source: Mark Nickita, member of the Birmingham Planning Board
Writer: Jon Zemke

Birmingham, Troy move forward with transit center plans

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