Transportation

High-speed rail, shrinking cities, Millenials focus of U-M/ULI conf

By Newsroom

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November 11, 2009

The future of urban development and what it will mean for southeast Michigan will be the focus of the upcoming University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum today and Thursday.The 23rd annual event will be held in the Michigan League (911 N University St) in downtown Ann Arbor on the University of Michigan's campus. There the speakers will use some local developments and practices that can be translated into examples of best practices of urban development."We're using Ann Arbor as a laboratory and we're using examples that aren't Ann Arbor specific," says Tom Wackerman, president of ASTI Environmental and chairman of the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum. He adds that the point is so stakeholders from other communities can translate these lesson to their own urban areas.Many of the subjects that will be broached by some marquee names in local development. Austin Black of nonprofit City Living Detroit will evaluate the ongoing "Shrinking Cities" dilemma and Carmine Palombo of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments will speak about the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail project."The rail issue is critically important, but so are the road, bus and bike issues," Wackerman says.For information on the forum, click here.Source: Tom Wackerman, chairman of the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate ForumWriter: Jon Zemke

Latest in Transportation

Ann Arbor’s hybrid buses continue to lead the way to sustainability

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 28, 2009

Ann Arbor is at the top of the list when it comes to adopting fuel-efficient hybrid technology for public transit.Excerpt:If you wonder whether hybrid-electric vehicles will ever catch on, simply ask one of the millions of people who ride in them every day.Hybrid-electric buses, that is.Transit systems from New York to Taipei, and from Ames, Iowa, to Ann Arbor, Mich., are adding hybrid buses at a rapid clip. New York, by far, has the nation’s biggest fleet of hybrid buses, which run on electricity and diesel fuel, with nearly 1,000 in all five boroughs, most in Manhattan.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor moves forward on East Stadium bridge replacement

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 28, 2009

The East Stadium Boulevard bridges near Michigan Stadium are about to undergo a transformation that will eventually lead to their replacement within the next couple years.The 92-year-old bridges have begun to fail, prompting city officials to begin removing and replacing structures that normally have a 75-year lifespan. The bridges span State Street and a railroad line. The City Council recently authorized the removal of five of the 16 concrete beams after one began failing earlier this year."This particular beam went from bad to worse in the last winter because of the freeze-thaw cycle," says Homayoon Pirooz, a project manager with the city of Ann Arbor, adding that the city will be removing the first four beams rather than just taking out beam No. 5. After that job is completed in mid November, the city expect to finalize replacement plans. A full replacement of the bridges is expected to take place next year. The federal and state government is expected to cover $21 million of the project's $23 million price tag. Current plans call for more pedestrian-friendly bridges with aesthetic touches like historic lamp posts, benches and other accoutrements. Electrical lines will also be buried underground. The upgrades will be similar to what the Broadway bridges on the north side of the city underwent a few years ago."We do have a design that we have fine tuned in the last several months," Pirooz says.The city will hold a public meeting highlighting these designs between 6:30-9 p.m. today at Pioneer High School.Source: Homayoon Pirooz, a project manager with the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

City moves to replace Ann Arbor-Saline Road pedestrian bridge

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 28, 2009

The city of Ann Arbor is getting ready to replace a pedestrian bridge with a temporary pedestrian bridge, which might become the new permanent pedestrian bridge. Confused? Don't worry, this actually does make sense.The heavy rains from this last summer washed away the abutments of the pedestrian bridge along the Ann Arbor-Saline bridge over Mallett’s Creek on the city's west side just north of Northbrook Drive. The city is looking to replace the 8-foot-wide, 22-foot-long original bridge with a 6-foot-wide, 50-foot long (it has to be longer now because of erosion) temporary bridge. "It's a heavily used commuter route for pedestrians and bicyclists," says Nichole Woodward, utilities engineer for the city of Ann Arbor. The city is renting the temporary bridge (the University of Michigan has also rented temporary bridges according to Woodward) for $10,000 for 13 weeks. In that time city staff are expected to decide whether to rebuild the original bridge, build a sidewalk along the Ann Arbor-Saline Road or buy the temporary bridge for $24,000 and make it the permanent bridge."It will boil down to a matter of cost," Woodward says.Source: Nichole Woodward, utilities engineer for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

AATA considers countywide expansion of service

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 21, 2009

Could the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority become a county-wide service? It's a question that's being asked of at least 1,100 Washtenaw County residents this fall.AATA has commissioned CJI Research to conduct a $40,000 random sample telephone survey to assess the popularity of expanding AATA's services on a county-wide level. The results are expected to be delivered by mid November."We have been asked by many community leaders to expand our services county wide," says Mary Stasiak, manager of community relations for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.Right now AATA primarily serves the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas, although it has expanded commuter service to Chelsea and Plymouth as part of a pilot program with the University of Michigan. Expanding AATA to a county-wide service could stretch bus routes out as far as Saline and Manchester among other population centers.Source: Mary Stasiak, manager of community relations for the Ann Arbor Transportation AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke

University of Michigan looks at remaking Ann Arbor transit landscape

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 14, 2009

The Google effect is starting to ripple out to Ann Arbor's transit community, too.Excerpt:The University of Michigan is on the cusp of transforming Ann Arbor’s transportation network.Creating more efficient transportation options from U-M’s North Campus, which now includes the 174-acre ex-Pfizer site, to its Central Campus and medical facilities, rose to a top priority this week as part of a new university-driven transportation initiative.The move could fundamentally alter the city’s transit infrastructure: All options are on the table, officials said, which could mean intra-city rail or trolleys.U-M President Mary Sue Coleman signaled Oct. 5 in her “State of the University” speech that the university would jump into the local transportation mix - beyond an existing proposal to create a transit station at Fuller Road near the hospital.The university’s involvement promises to add a sense of legitimacy, if also a layer of political complexity, to the region’s transportation ambitions.“We are completely intertwined as communities, so it’s going to be very important for us to plan together,” Coleman told AnnArbor.com. “I’m excited about our trying to do a better job on the North Campus-Central Campus connection. Clearly that has impacts on the city and the state, so we want to involve everybody in that discussion as we get some ideas for what we might do.”Read the rest of the story here and here.

AATA pilot project gets real-time bus info to riders

By Newsroom

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Development News

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October 14, 2009

Few things are as depressing as waiting and waiting and waiting in inclement weather for a bus named Godot, ...except, of course, watching your bus pull away just as you get to the bus stop.The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is trying to eliminate such things with a new pilot program via Shepherd Intelligent Systems. The University of Michigan spin-off is testing technology that would let users see exactly where buses are located in real time."This iis really focused around the riders," says Adrian Fortino, CEO of Shepherd Intelligent Systems.The mobile technology lets bus riders see the real-time location of the bus they want to catch through active maps on a website or smart phone application. It also supplies accurate predictions (within a minute) of when a bus will arrive at its stop using text messages. The technology comes from the Magic Bus program U-M uses for its buses.The pilot program will focus on Route #6 for the rest of this year. It could be spread throughout the rest of the AATA bus system next year.Source: Adrian Fortino, CEO of Shepherd Intelligent SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke

Washtenaw Talent Center focuses on new direction

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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October 14, 2009

Washtenaw Avenue isn't a thoroughfare known for bringing smiles to faces, at least not like Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor or Cross Street in Depot Town, Ypsilanti. The Washtenaw Talent Center wants that to change. A group of local stakeholders is working on a plan to turn the suburban-strip-mall-dominated byway into something much more urban and sustainable."We're investigating it's redevelopment potential," says Anya Dale, a senior planner with Washtenaw County's Office of Strategic Planning. That means turning the main artery between Ann Arbor Ypsilanti into a denser and walkable corridor filled with mixed-use buildings and improved mass transit. "The key is there is a significant population living there that doesn't have cars or doesn't use a car to get to work," Dale says.The group has been working on these plans for several months now. It is planning on having a steering committee meeting on Oct. 22. Anyone interested in the project can send Dale an email at dalea@ewashtenaw.org.Source: Anya Dale, a senior planner with Washtenaw County's Office of Strategic Planning Writer: Jon Zemke

Video Ann Arbor’s Veggie Fueled Party Bus

By Keith Jefferies

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Entrepreneurship

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October 7, 2009

The B2B Party Bus is everything sustainable new urbanist hipsters ever dreamed of: An entrepreneurial enterprise that runs small scale private transit on secondhand cooking oil in order to transport young party-goers around downtown.

Ann Arbor prepares to dabble in permeable pavement

By Newsroom

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Development News

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October 7, 2009

Pavement is often vilified by environmentalists as a pollution enabler, allowing rain water runoff to deposit old oil, fertilizer and other chemicals into local waterways. Ann Arbor is trying something different – permeable pavement.The city plans to rebuild Sylvan Avenue with the new kind of pavement that absorbs rain water as if it was a dirt road. The small stretch of road (800 feet) is between Packard Road and White Street on the southern edge of the University of Michigan's student ghetto."We were going to resurface it this year but we discovered some drainage problems with it," says Nick Hutchinson, project engineer for the city of Ann Arbor.Instead the city will tear out the old road next year, rebuild its base and then repave with the permeable pavement next spring/summer. Putting down the new base will allow for the absorbed rainwater to filter into the water table without causing any damage to the road, similar to what happens in freeze-thaw situations.The city plans to spend about $300,000 for the project. That is more expensive than just slapping another layer of pavement on the old road bed, but cost competitive with rebuilding the whole stretch of street and using regular, non-permeable pavement."It's not much more expensive than that," Hutchinson says.Source: Nick Hutchinson, project engineer for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke