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Dearborn expects commuter rail station to push economic development

Thursday, July 17, 2008

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Dearborn

Dearborn has high hopes for its station on the long commuter rail line between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

City officials have created plans for a station in the city, bordering The Henry Ford. Local leaders hope the two stations will help make the city a destination for tourists, shoppers and workers.

The intermodal station located at Michigan Avenue and Elm Street is set up like a park-and-ride and is pedestrian friendly to those going to the adjacent Henry Ford museums, nearby west downtown and the Rouge Parkway. Busses and taxis will be available to take passengers to the nearby Fairlane Towne Center and the campuses of the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College.

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) is heading up the commuter rail project and is working out details with a number of train companies that control the tracks between Ann Arbor and Detroit. A video of the proposed line, set to come on line in 2010, is available here.

People who want to comment on proposed line and other Metro Detroit transportation issues can do so at any one of three meetings next month. SEMCOG will be taking public comment as it prepares a long-range transportation plan for southeast Michigan.

The first meeting will be held on Monday in SEMCOG's Detroit offices, Suite 300 of 535 Griswold, from 4 to 7 p.m. The second meeting will be held Tuesday in the Southfield Public Library, 26300 Evergreen, also from 4 to 7 p.m. The third meeting will be held on Wednesday in Ann Arbor at Washtenaw Community College's Morris Lawrence Building from 9 a.m. to noon. Formal presentations about the plans will also be given during the meetings.

For information on the plan or the meetings, call SEMCOG at (313) 961-4266.

Source: Randy Coble, spokesman for the city of Dearborn and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
Writer: Jon Zemke