Canopies going up at $18.3M Rosa Parks Transit Center

Construction is moving along at the Rosa Parks Transit Center located at the corner of Michigan and Cass. The signature tensile roof is going up. It will be complete by mid-June, with the Detroit Department of Transportation planning a June 25 grand opening for the center. At that time, the central terminal for DDOT buses will shift from Capitol Park to the RPTC.

DDOT Deputy Director Lovette Williams thinks the RPTC will mean new visibility and viability for bus riding in Metro Detroit. "This is something new to this area completely," she says, with amenities such as the ability for passengers to sit indoors to wait for their bus while being informed by real-time bus arrival and departure signage; retail space that will be filled with little shops (think newspaper stand); round-the-clock security; and a cashier-staffed spot to buy DDOT and SMART bus passes.

The transit center is just across the street from a Detroit People Mover station, and Transit Windsor Tunnel Buses will stop there as well. "They're all in one location, right there," says Williams. "Because the location is so good, the building, it makes our potential passengers feel safer getting on the bus...It should please our customers a lot."

The team involved with the design and construction of the $18.3 million transit center include architect Parsons Brinkerhoff and general contractor DeMaria Building Company. A $5.5 million contract for the installation of the tensile canopy was signed with USA Shade & Fabric Structures, Inc. of Costa Mesa, California. A local fabrication plant assembled it off-site.

Source: Lovette Williams, DDOT
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh