The Transportation Page
An ever-expanding list of links to Ann Arbor transportation plans and topics.
Local in Ann Arbor Blog Posts
Big Plans is an article about local transportation planning submitted to the Ann Arbor Observer in February 2009 but never published in this form. It is not now up to date on all subjects.
AATA’s Uncertain Future (December 10, 2009)
Our Shining City on a Hill (March 11, 2010)
AATA Yesterday and Tomorrow (June 17, 2011)
Train of Dreams (June 24, 2011)
Train of Dreams II (June 25, 2011)
Fuller Road Station and the Mayor’s Letter (July 28, 2011)
WALLY Hitting the Wall? (August 13, 2011)
Fuller Road Station: Parsing the Mayor’s Letter (August 21, 2011)
Fuller Road Station: It’s All About Parking (September 2, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? (October 29, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? II (November 7, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? III: Where the Money Is (November 17, 2011)
Say What? The Mayor Speaks about Fuller Road Station (December 9, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? The Big Picture (December 12, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? The Big Picture II (December 17, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? The Politics (December 29, 2011)
AATA: Moving Us Where? The Politics II (January 2, 2012)
The Case of the Vanishing Transit Millage (January 4, 2012)
The Case of the Vanishing Transit Millage II (January 5, 2012)
AATA: Moving Us Along (January 15, 2012)
How Much “County” in Washtenaw County-wide Transit? (January 27, 2012)
Following the Money for (Washtenaw) County-wide Transit (January 29, 2012)
Fairness and Transit: Where AATA Is Moving Us (March 1, 2012)
Fairness and Transit II (March 10, 2012)
Fairness and Transit III (March 13, 2012)
Those State Transportation Bills and the Regional Transit Authority (April 1, 2012)
The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) was incorporated in 1968.
Articles of Incorporation A perpetual millage was established by a charter amendment as the result of a ballot initiative passed by the voters of Ann Arbor on April 2, 1973. The ballot language was as follows:
Shall the Charter be amended to require the levy of a tax of two and one-half mills annually for the purpose of providing funds for operating and equipping a public transportation system for the City?
Original documentation is here (Note that the AATA millage as levied is now just over 2 mills, as a result of the Headlee Amendment provisions.)
AATA’s TMP Changeover
The AATA Board initiated a Transit Master Plan process which will presumably result in asking countywide voters to approve a millage. They state that the most popular option was the “Smart Growth” plan that includes two commuter railroads. Information at Moving You Forward. Conversion of AATA from Act 55 to Act 196 authority is detailed in a handout prepared by Jerry Lax. This is described in our blog post, AATA’s Uncertain Future (December 10, 2009) and in other posts, notably the “AATA: Moving Us Where?” series listed above.
Financial Task Force A blue-ribbon panel was appointed by the AATA board to come up with a financial plan for the first 5-year plan of implementing the TMP. (Any millage vote would have to be renewed at the end of 5 years.) They issued a report on February 29, 2012. Here are the documents describing their findings.
Recommendations (summary report)
Subgroup Service Review report
Overview of subgroup report (presentation slides)
Financial performance of services spreadsheet
Letter from chair Albert Berriz
Letter from co-chair Bob Guenzel
City of Ann Arbor
The Ann Arbor Transportation Plan Update is a far-reaching vision of future transportation plans that includes land use recommendations. The A2_Transportation_Plan_Draft_Report and A2_Transportation_Plan_Draft_Appendices may be downloaded here. (Big files!)
The DDA lists links to each chapter of the 2007 parking study by Nelson-Nygaard Consulting Associates. Chapter 1 of this study summarizes the major findings and conclusions. This was also used to formulate a policy passed by City Council on June 18, 2007.
The Fuller Road Station (also known as the Fuller Intermodal Transportation Station, or FITS), is a major venture whereby the City will, in partnership with the University of Michigan, use parkland to construct a parking structure for the UM. It is also potentially a nexus for a transportation corridor envisioned mostly to serve the UM (see our blog post, Our Shining City on a Hill). A good review of issues was provided by the Ann Arbor Chronicle (June 8, 2010). A citizen’s group has sprung up to oppose this project: see Stop Fuller Road Station.
On February 10, 2012, the UM and City of Ann Arbor announced in a joint press release that the UM will no longer be participating. The giant parking structure is apparently dead, but not the train station. See a report by the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
Related to the Fuller Road Station is the Connector Study, a cooperative planning project between the UM, the City of Ann Arbor, the DDA, and most importantly the AATA. Note that it meshes with and helps to implement the Ann Arbor Transportation Update, which called for signature routes. The Connector Study Feasibility Report (prepared by consultants) is now available. It was presented to the City Council on October 10, 2011.
Regional (Washtenaw County) Plans and Reports
The Washtenaw Area Transportation Study Transit Plan for Washtenaw County is available here.
The Ann Arbor Region Success project (conducted in 2008) formulated a timeline to organize a county-wide transit authority under Public Act 196. This concept was also described in an article in the Ann Arbor Chronicle (November 3, 2009) and in our blog post, AATA’s Uncertain Future.
State of Michigan
The Michigan Transportation Funding Task Force (TF2) issued a report in late 2008 that is truly scary with regard to our statewide infrastructure funding. “Michigan is moving from underinvestment in transportation to disinvestment. The consequences of failing to act quickly and decisively to avoid this scenario will reverberate throughout the state for years to come.”
Governor Rick Snyder presented a major concept paper on transportation issues on October 26, 2011. The summary is here and we also reviewed some aspects that are especially pertinent to the future of Washtenaw County transit in our post, AATA: Moving Us Where II.
A package of bills was introduced as announced on January 26, 2012. A good review is in this article from the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
Here is a list of the bills with links to the relevant page from the Michigan Legislature website. Visiting that site will give an up-to-date status report on each bill, and there are also useful analyses for some bills.
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