Notice of Temporary Traffic Control Plan
Traffic restriction for the demolition and removal of 1217 S. University
S. University (Church St. to S. Forest Ave.)
December 26 thru January 8th.

Location and Limits of Affected Area:
S. University between Church St. and S. Forest Ave.

Description of Construction:
Demolish and removal of building at 1217 S. University.

Temporary Construction Traffic Control Plan:
North half (westbound ) of S. University will be closed between Church St. and S. Forest Ave.

Westbound traffic will be detoured at S. Forest Ave. south to Willard St. then west on Willard to Church St. then North bound on Church St. back to S. University.

Eastbound traffic will be allowed at all times during demolition.

Pedestrian Traffic Control Plan:
Non Local Pedestrian traffic will be detoured to the sidewalk on the South side of S. University between Church St. and S. Forest.

During this construction the traffic may experience brief delays within the areas influenced by this work and along the detour route itself. To maintain the safety of all, please reduce speeds and drive cautiously in and around work zones.

We thank you in advance for your patience as this necessary work is completed in order to ensure the safety of all Ann Arbor citizens.

Project Contacts:

City of Ann Arbor
Robert Wagner, Civil Engineering Specialist, (734) 323-5604
David Clemons, Civil Engineering Specialist Supervisor, (734) 231-6761

Beal Properties & Beal Inc.
Stewart Beal, (734) 320-6376

Just a quick note to let you know that the Zipcars that were recently put on Washington Street between Division and State have just been moved to the First and Washington parking lot (across from the Blind Pig).   The cars were moved to make it easier to deal with snow removal and other issues that come with putting cars on-street.

If you work or live on the Main Street side of town, this should make getting a Zipcar easier for you.  If you work on the State Street side of town, you can still use the cars located at the Fletcher St Parking Structure.

And don’t forget, if you want to keep in touch with what’s going on with Zipcar Ann Arbor and possibly win some fun prizes, become our fan on Facebook.

This past semester, some students at the UM have been working on an app that would encourage people to walk (to work, downtown, etc).  As the Director of the getDowntown Program, I was asked to provide some feedback and support to the students.

The students have moved to the final stages of the creation of the app.  Check out the walking app and its super cute mascot Mibo here.

If you are interested in some of the other aspects of developing the app (usability testing, etc) , click on the tabs in the blog.

What I think is most exciting about this app and the others I’ve been seeing is that there appears to be a lot of potential to really make commuting easier.  Exciting times ahead for sure.

FYI:

AATA CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR’S SERVICE HOURS ANNOUNCED

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will not operate regular fixed-route bus service, A-Ride, or senior shared-ride services on December 25, 2009 or January 1, 2010 in observance of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

On Christmas and New Year’s eves, December 24 and 31, service will end early, with the last trips leaving the Blake Transit Center at 6:48 p.m.

Weekday service will be reduced, or not operate, from December 24 through 31, as follows:

• Route 18 will only operate every half hour from 9:19 a.m. to 3:49 p.m. between the Miller Road Park & Ride Lot and the Blake Transit Center
• Route 36 Wolverine Tower Shuttle will be reduced to service every 30 minutes at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour.
• Routes 4A and 4B will only operate on trips that leave the Blake Transit Center at 18 and 48 minutes past the hour and the Ypsilanti Transit Center on the hour and half hour.
• Service will not operate on Route 4C trips. Routes 4A and 4B will pull into U-M Hospital and the Medford/Manchester stop.
• There will be no service on Routes 1U or 2X.

Route 33 EMU Shuttle will not operate from December 18 through January 5. Route 33 will resume regular service on January 6.

The AATA main office will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The Blake and Ypsilanti Transit Centers will close at 7 p.m. on December 24 and 31, and reopen on December 26 and January 2, respectively.

Passengers may take advantage of AATA’s Holiday Ride shared-ride service on each holiday, or Night Ride shared-ride service, which begins early, at 7 p.m., on Christmas and New Year’s eves.

Either service costs just $5 a person.  Seniors and persons with disabilities with an AATA Senior or ADA identification card may ride for $2.50. Individuals using their go!passes may ride for $1.00.

Holiday Ride and Night Ride services operate only within the city limits of Ann Arbor. To schedule a Holiday Ride or Night Ride trip, call 734.528.5432.

Complete bus route and schedule information is available at www.TheRide.org and 734.996.0400.

Just in time for winter, Wheels in Motion is organizing the 2nd Annual Winter Commuter Challenge.  Log bike commutes during the winter months (12/21/09-03/20/10) and win!

Click here to learn more and to register.

1. Snow Suit.
2. Balaclava.
3. Warm socks and fuzzy boots.
4. Mittens.
5. Windproof, warm jacket.
6. A smile.

More

In a recent post, I discussed some cool new transportation apps that might make your commute easier.  Now there is a site that tries to aggregate those apps in one place.  It’s called City-Go-Round and you can use it to search for transportation apps in your community.  It’s from the makers of Walkscore.  The goal of City-G0-Round is to “help make public transit more convenient” by doing three different things as noted by T4America:

. . . cataloging the hundreds of smartphone/web applications people have created to make riding public transit easier, putting pressure on agencies across the country that have not released their public data, and raising awareness of the need for government agencies to open up their data.

Check out City-Go-Round here.

A recent article in AnnArbor.com reports on AATA’s move toward a countywide authority as well as the preliminary results from a survey looking at voter interest in a countywide millage for transit.

The resulting comments preceding the article highlight the various opinions surrounding both ideas.  Some people will never be interested in countywide transit or a millage and don’t see the need for it.  Some people ride the buses all the time, see that they are crowded and thus see the need for more and expanded service.  Like most issues, opinions on AATA’s interest in moving to countywide are colored by the experience of the individual.

As the Director of an organization that encourages people to bus, bike, walk, carpool, etc. downtown, I clearly have an interest in seeing an expansion of transit service countywide.  I’m not going to argue with that.  However, my interest is not simply shaped by my own experience but by what I hear from the people I serve–downtown commuters.

The getDowntown Program recently conducted a survey of downtown Ann Arbor employees and found that about 50% of employees live in Ann Arbor.  That means the rest live outside of Ann Arbor.   As a center for high-quality jobs, Ann Arbor, and downtown especially, attract workers from all over the region.  As I have seen in my work, many of these people would like to have other ways to get to their jobs in addition to being able to drive.  They want options.  Also, a vibrant downtown is one filled with lots of people.  When people can bike, bus, walk, and drive to a downtown, this contributes to a vibrancy that more auto-centric parts of Ann Arbor lack.

Speaking of options, what isn’t mentioned in that article but is important to consider in this debate is the two proposed Commuter Rail lines (WALLY and Ann Arbor-Detroit).  While both of the rail lines are expected to be operating by the end of 2010 or early 2011, it’s still unclear what role they will play in shaping a countywide transit conversation.

I think the challenge we will continue to face in Washtenaw County surrounding the transit debate is that parts of the county are much more urban than others.  As a result, transit needs and interests are different depending on where you live in the county.  I think AATA recognizes this and will use this knowledge to shape their countywide plan.  At the same time, we continue to live in a region rather than in separate cities and townships.  What does transit look like if we plan it for a region rather that for separate cities and townships?

There is a lot more I could say on this subject, but I’d rather leave it at this and encourage readers to try to listen to both sides of the debate and figure out how transit factors into the future of this region.  Once a plan is put out there, there will probably be proposals for how to fund it.  And that’s when the really interesting debates will begin.

Just in case you might want to attend The AATA is having a Special Board Meeting Tonight to discuss becoming a Countywide Authority (Public Act 196)

Here are the details:

Board of Directors Special Meeting to Discuss Public Act 196
Dec. 8 at 5:30 pm
Washtenaw Community College
Morris Lawrence Bldg.
Room 101
4800 E. Huron River Dr.
734.677.5033

From Frank Schwende, RAT organizer:

RAT. Friday, December 11, 6PM @ Liberty and Division.

So … 350 Rats?  We wish!  No, that’d be unexpected.  But we are teaming up with local environmental activists who are not distracted by the global warming-gate e-mail thing and who understand the validity of the preponderance of the data.  Here’s the plan.

Make a tree ornament from recycled materials and containing the message “350″ on it.  Be creative!  Or just do what I plan on doing – painting a 350 on a can lid, poking a hole for a hanger and bow, and, ta-da!  350 ornament!
At the start of the RAT! as we wait for late arrivals, we’ll have a little tree decorating thing right in Liberty Plaza Park.

As well as helping to kick off the 350.org Blitz in Ann Arbor, we’ll be festooning our own bicycles with as many lights and/or decorations as we can muster.  At the very least, since this ride starts and stops in the dark, you’ll need a headlight and tail reflector/blinky light.

Come see my 900 lumen Chinese made headlight!  It even has an SOS mode (blinks Morse Code dit-dit-dit….dah-dah-dah….dit-dit-dit, for those of you who never tried to get your amateur’s license).

Can’t make the ride?  Don’t WANT to ride in 20 F temperatures?  Then join us at the RAT! hole about 7pm.  For the second month in a row we’ll be at the Monkey Bar, aka Full Moon.  Maybe we’ll be celebrating passage of a state-wide ban on smoking in public places.  At any rate, this RAT! hole has been non-smoking for almost a year, and is one of the few places where a group can sit at a table and talk to each other (quiet).    Hope to see you there!