Thanks to $57 million in allocated federal funds announced with last week’s release of President Barack Obama’s proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget, plans for the
The Rapid’s Laker Line BRT system are finally moving forward.
One of 31 transportation projects throughout 18 states chosen to receive a chunk of the Federal Transit Authority’s $3.5 billion Capital Investment Grant Program funding, the Laker Line would provide service between downtown Grand Rapids and the Allendale Campus of Grand Valley State University, stretching 13.3 miles in total.
Nick Monoyois is the project manager for the Laker Line BRT system and says the announcement comes on the heels of more than two years of planning, public input, and close collaboration with the cities of Standale, Walker, Grand Rapids and their respective downtown development authorities, including area business districts expected to benefit the most from the new route.
“The city of Standale has recognized the ability of these BRT stations, through some revitalizing land-use planning, in helping make a stronger sense of place and walkability,” Monoyois says. “They’re trying to revive that very highly automobile-oriented Standale corridor by creating more dense, walkable land-use adjacent to the proposed station locations.”
He says the same thing goes for the West Fulton business district and Medical Mile, as well, which have both been identified in the past by the Vital Streets Task Force and the Michigan Street Corridor Plan as transit priorities due to the anticipated economic development impact the new Laker Line system could afford.
“One of the greatest benefits that are realized with enhanced modes such as BRT are significant returns on private investment near BRT stations,” says Monoyois, adding that with an antiquated ridership of around 13,000 riders per day, the new Laker Line offers opportunity to both business owners and commuters not exclusive to GVSU.
“That’s a lot of people going back and forth on Fulton,” he says. “They’re students, and faculty, and staff, but more than that they’re residents in that neighborhood and the business district sees that as a great opportunity to capture some of these riders and encourage retail growth.”
The idea behind the growing regional emphasis on multimodal transit options is simple — if you combine increased access to convenient transportation with the freed-up square footage for actual commerce made possible by less demanding parking requirements, businesses not only have more diverse opportunities for retail growth, but they also become more attractive and accessible to those who travel the corridor.
“It’s the idea of place-making,” says Jennifer Kalczuk, external relations manager for The Rapid. “How do you make a place that is an attractive, welcoming environment? A place people want to spend time? If it’s easy to talk a walk and explore, you’re more likely to find new shops or places to eat.”
Kalczuk says the project was chosen to receive grant monies in part because of The Rapid’s success with the
Silver Line BRT system, which is supported by 34 individual stations along a 9.6-mile route starting from Central Station along Grandville Avenue SW and ending at Division Avenue and 60th Street.
She says the Laker Line will have some shared stations with the Silver Line in the core downtown area and will have all of the same features such as snowmelt systems, level boarding between the bus and station for handicap accessibility, real-time bus arrival displays and fare kiosks for purchasing tickets prior to boarding.
The new route will also feature “articulated buses,” which have accordion-style middles to accommodate for increased capacity.
“One of the ways we’re managing that demand is by putting the bigger vehicles out and we expect that the overall readership in the corridor will grow; meaning that it’s not going to be just the existing Route 50 ridership base, but it will also be attracting new riders that live in the neighborhood,” Kalczuk says. “Whether you are coming from south or west, it’s making that downtown access much easier. It’s not only for Grand Valley students, faculty, and staff either — it’s for commuters and people that work downtown that live on the west side.”
In total, the Laker Line is slated to cost about $71,014,000. In addition the federal funding, the state is expected to provide approximately $14,202,8000 for the project. The federal funding is not definite, as the budget proposal must still get the stamp of approval from Congress.
The Rapid will spend 2016 completing engineering and designs for the line, and construction is expected to kick off next year, with implementation of the new route expected to begin in 2018.
For more information, visit
www.rapidtherapid.org.
Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of The Rapid
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