Elevated 'people Mover' Plan Clears One Hurdle

A proposal for ai êleWe'd-' 'people' mover" mass transit system for Ann Arbor has been advanced by the Michigan Public Transportation Council. The council announced today that a preliminary plan for such a system submitted by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority has been graduated to the semifinal round of a statewide mass transit design contest along with five other proposals from across the state. There may be more than one eventual winner. The AATA's proposal basically calis for construction of a estimated $3 million elevated transit line stretching some 16, 000 feet to initially connect the Main Campus and State Street business districts with the Main Street business district. Later phase of development would extend the line to the AMTRAK railroad station, past the present St. Joseph Mercy Hospital to University Hospital, Veterans Affairs Hospital and to the North Campus. By qualifying for the semifinal round in the design contest, the AATA will receive a $10,000 grant from the state to prepare details for the system. If the state decides to continue supporting the plan, the AATA would receive another grant of up to $400,000 for an engineering study. The state would also fund up to half of the "basic project development" cost. AATA Chairman William Drake points out the authority's proposal is one of concept and is not yet a detailed plan. Before the system would be constructed it would go through the two state-suppor'ted planning stages and would be studied carefully by the city and the downtown merchants for acceptabilily, Drake said. He further explained that the AATA has received little input from other local agencies about the proposal because the statewide competition was a "hurry up" affair. When the AATA first learned of the competition it had only nine days to meet a state imposed deadline. The plan submitted by the AATA was actually developed by mass transit experts from the Ford Motor Co. who have worked with Ann Arbor on the Dial-ARide bus system, which Ford helped sponsor, and the still developing Teltran bus system. Ford has not, however, officially endorsed the proposal. The' AATA also submitted to the council a proposal. from the Bendix Dashaveyor Co., but this plan was rejected. The preliminarily approved transit system is designed to supplement the Teltran bus system, especially in the heavily congested downtown area. It hopefully would cut down on automobile traffic and would provide better public transportation than the city's small capacity vans or more cumbersome large buses. The types of elevated vehicles that ' would be used, and the railways themselves, have not yet been designed. These details and the specific routing for the system would be worked out in the design and engineering studies. The statewide competition is a effort to stimulate development of mass transportation system in Michigan. ït is also sesn fay some as an effort to gain public support for the gasoline tax increase approved by the Legislature but which is facing a possible referendum vote because of a petition drive. Part of the funds collected through the new tax go for public transportation. ■ - A $7 million Dearborn integrated transit system linking two activity centers with outlying shopping centers. The system also would tie into a proposed Ann Arbor-Detroit commuter line. - A high-speed moving sidewalk serving a 25-block area in Saginaw at an estimated cost of $2 million. - A 4.8-mile elevated system looping through Detroit's central business district. The proposal, submitted by the South Eastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA), would include 16 stations and would cost about $40 million. - A $5-million SEMTA elevated system connecting the medical center near Wayne State University in Detroit with seven medical buildings on the campus. - A $10 million Wayne County transit system connecting two terminals and four parking lots at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. . The council rejected transit proposals submitted by Battle Creek and SEMTA for Southfield and returned another plan submitted by Grand Rapids for additional information.