The Michigan Department of Transportation has begun construction on the Raymond & Rosa Parks Detroit Integrated Transportation Campus on Fort St. between 5th and 6th Streets. The two-story facility will combine several MDOT operations, including the Detroit Transportation Service Center currently located just blocks away on Howard St. and the Michigan Intelligent Transportation Systems Center, currently located across the street on the second floor of the Greyhound Bus Terminal. There will also be space for Michigan State Police and SMART bus layovers.
Besides the obvious efficiencies in having related departments in the same building, the new facility made sense for the department for a couple of other reasons, according to Detroit TSC manager Rita Screws. The state is moving away from leasing space in general, she says, pointing out that Oakland and Taylor TSCs have both moved into their own buildings just this year. Plus, the land was already owned by the state; it was purchased years back for a transit center that was rendered unnecessary by the construction of the Rosa Parks Transit Center on Michigan Ave. at Cass.
The Integrated Transportation Campus is intended to facilitate collaborations with the county and the city, says Screws. "We want to make this a center for transportation, so our operations center will be able to accommodate other partners."
Screws anticipates that construction will be complete in the spring or summer of 2010.
Source: Rita Screws, MDOT
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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