Elevated Mass Transit Hopes Dim

Although its chanceé of ever being constructed appear to be steadily decreasing, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority decided to continue studying an elevated mass transit system for at least a couple of more weeks. The AATA was presented Wednesday night with an outline of an elevated system costing an estimated $9 to $12 I million. The system is being designed as the authority's possible entrance into the next round of the statewide Newtrans public transportation design competition. The skepticism about whether or not the elevated system will ever become a reality was evident in remarks by AATA Chairman William Drake. Drake made no comments on the merits of the plan, but he indicated that financing may be the key concern. "The concept of our (AATA) ' tion in this competition is that a large percentage of state money would be available Tor construction," Drake said. "We' ve seen some slippage of that percentage since the competition was announced." He continued, "I don't think the Ann Arbor citizenry should be asked to becomexmore involved than they already are" in_financing public transportation. City property owners now pay V-k milis annually for bus service. The "slippage" Drake mentioned referred to the fact that the state was initially offering to pay all of the construction costs of the winner or winners of the competition. However, more recently that has dropped Nto 50 per cent of the construction costs. The competition is designed to spur both the use of mass transit and the production in Michigan of mass transit equipment. It is also seen as a means to gain public support against efforts to drop gasoline taxes used for public transporta tion. The proposal outlined by Johnson showed a different routing than that suggested by experts for the Ford Motor Co. who prepared the AATA's original plan. Johnson recommended the elevated system run down Main Street to William, east on William to the main campus, east through the campus past the Dental School, then turning horth past University Hospital and stopping just south of North Campus. The line recommended by Johnson would stretch over 8,000 feet and would accomodate four electric vehicles. A second phase of the plan, but one Johnson admitted was for the distant future, called for creation of a loop of elevated guideways in the downtown are a by running a similar line down Ann Street. This additional work would send - ' - ' ■ ■ ■■ the total estimated cost of the elevated system to $20 million to $23 million. Johnson said he feit the first phase would be agreeable to the state as a demonstration project because it could be connected to two regional transit systems - the AMTRAK rail service and a regional bus service. However, for the rail service to be available, the present AMTRAK station would have to be located east of its current location to a point along the Huron River near Fuller Road. No authority action was scheduled on the proposal but members did agree to meet against next week after downtown merchants and businessmen have had a chance to review the plan. The AATA did, however, direct the consultants to consider a plan routing the elevated guideway down Washington Street instead of William.