(CBS DETROIT) – The Howard Street bus station in Corktown and the Detroit Amtrak station in New Center are aging and due for a makeover.
“Just like the city, just needs a little work- a little work, that’s all,” Steve Phillips, a taxi driver, said.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, it would cost more than $2 million to make repairs at the bus station, so in 2016, officials recommended replacing or selling the building.
“There was always a concern certainly with Howard street that it wasn’t accessible to Downtown or transit service, and then there was no real ability to get people to transfer from Greyhound bus to Amtrak,” James Schultz, project manager for MDOT, told CBS Detroit.
The 30-year-old Amtrak station that was meant to be an interim facility now no longer has ADA compliant platform.
And with one in three households in surrounding neighborhoods lacking access to a car, convenient access to mass transit is vital.
Michigan’s solution: The “New Center Intermodal Facility.”
“We’re looking at more increased passenger rail service that would allow us to provide more frequencies,” Robert Patterson, Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers, said.
A passenger tunnel would connect the renovated train station to a new bus station, bringing local bus lines and Greyhound under one roof.
It would also have an area for taxis and other ride-and-bike-sharing services.
On Thursday, those who live and work in the area learned details of the proposed project during an open house at College for Creative Studies – Taubman Center Main Lobby.
“One of the complaints from the public that currently use the facility is looking forward was that we need more amenities, so instead of vending machines, we’d like to have a bodega in a diner,” Schultz said.
A federal grant of $10 million will go toward the project, which was once estimated to cost $57 million, but with inflation, the final price tag may be around $60 to $80 million.
As of now, MDOT is set to begin construction in 2024, with plans to open the facility to the public two years later.
