ANN ARBOR, MI - With clearance from the Federal Railroad Administration, the city of Ann Arbor has released a long-awaited report examining options for a new Amtrak station.

The report identifies Fuller Park as the preferred location for a new train station and related facilities, including parking.

The 212-page draft environmental assessment report was made public and posted to the city's website Monday afternoon, Sept. 18, after several months of private discussions between the city and FRA.

Public comments are now being accepted through Nov. 2.

The city has been exploring options for a new Amtrak train station to replace the one on Depot Street for more than a decade, and the city has been working with the Michigan Department of Transportation and FRA to determine the best location.

Options seriously considered over the last few years have included Depot Street, where the existing Amtrak station and the community's historic depot building are both located, and along Fuller Road in part of Fuller Park in front of the University of Michigan Hospital.

The city historically has favored the Fuller Park location, while the FRA asked the city to further explore and analyze Depot Street options, including possibly returning the historic depot building that now houses the Gandy Dancer restaurant to use as the city's train station.

But now the city and FRA, along with MDOT, have reached consensus on "Build Alternative 3A" being the preferred option.

It includes constructing a station elevated above the tracks that run past Fuller Park on the south side of Fuller Road, where there's currently a city-owned parking lot leased to the university. It's described as a two-phase project in the new report.

The preferred option for a new Amtrak station in Ann Arbor included in an environmental assessment report publicly released by the city on Sept. 18, 2017.

Phase I includes:

Construct station above the tracks

Construct five-level intermodal operations and parking structure to accommodate transit operations, 435 long-term parking spaces, 50 short-term parking spaces, 150 parks user parking spaces and motorcycle parking, bicycle parking, shared bicycle service and bicycle room in parking structure

Construct vertical circulation element on north side of the tracks

Construct platform on the north side of the tracks with two warming shelters and 650 feet of canopy

Construct new 250-foot, eastbound, right-turn lane at the Fuller Road/West Site driveway intersection

Construct new 250-foot, eastbound, right-turn lane at the Fuller Road/East Site driveway intersection

Relocate and reconstruct the Fuller Road crossovers, including 250 foot, left-turn bays at each crossover

Construct four bus bays

Phase II includes:

Construct additional parking structure levels to accommodate 870 total long-term parking spaces, 50 short-term spaces, 150 parks user parking spaces

Construct five additional bus bays to equal nine bus bays

If commuter rail is implemented:

Construct second 800-foot platform on south side of the tracks with two warming shelters and 650 feet of canopy

Construct vertical circulation elements (elevators and stairs for pedestrians) on south side of the tracks

Construct an additional 250 spaces (1,320 total)

The various options for a new station were evaluated based on potential impacts on the natural, human and physical environments, constructibility, cost, and the potential to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts to resources, giving consideration to economic, environmental, technical and other factors.

"As addressed in Section 3, Build Alternative 3A can be developed on property currently owned by the City of Ann Arbor and MDOT; thereby eliminating the need for additional property acquisitions as well as maintaining the taxable base in the area," the report states.

"Existing surface transportation network capacity immediately adjacent to this location can accommodate projected additional trips utilizing Build Alternative 3A. Build Alternative 3A currently provides connections to 9 transit routes (AAATA - 2 and U-M - 7). This location is outside of the floodplain and therefore no impacts will occur to the floodplain or any designated floodways."

The report acknowledges the preferred option will require use of 3.2 acres of Fuller Park and will require review and comment by Ann Arbor's Park Advisory Commission and City Council approval.

"In addition, there are no floodplain or floodway impacts associated with Alternative 3A, and with the smallest development area it results in the lowest increase in impervious surfaces," the report states.

Because it would be constructed on city-owned property, the Fuller Park station has the lowest construction cost among the alternatives, the report states, citing an estimated cost of $81 million.

Cost estimates for Depot Street options range from $94 million to $98 million, citing a need to widen the Broadway Street bridges and acquire property -- 2.5 acres from Amtrak and 2.6 acres from DTE Energy -- if the station and parking deck were to go there.

In addition to the digital copy posted online, a physical copy of the new report will be available for review starting Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the city clerk's office inside city hall, 301 E. Huron St., and at the reference desk at the downtown library, 343 S. Fifth Ave.

Written public comments on the report must be submitted to the city by 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2.

Comments can be submitted via email to project manager Eli Cooper at ecooper@a2gov.org or by mail to:



Eli Cooper

Systems Planning, fourth floor

City of Ann Arbor

P.O. Box 8647

Ann Arbor, MI 48107

The city is planning to hold meetings of the citizen advisory and leadership advisory groups for the Ann Arbor Station project, as well as for the general public, in early to mid-October. Dates and times will be published on the city website, as well as social media.

At a City Council work session last week, the city's administration cited an estimated cost of $80 million for a new Amtrak station and related parking deck, with the assumption that 80 percent would come from the federal government, with a $16 million local match.

That's a much higher estimate than before, which prompted one council member to question the higher cost.

The city's capital improvement plan in the past has included an estimated cost of $65 million for the train station and related parking deck construction, plus another $2.6 million for final design.

The city has been trying to get through the environmental assessment phase so it can move forward on preliminary engineering designs, drawing up more detailed plans for the preferred site.

Once there's a design and a chosen site, the city plans to let voters decide whether construction should proceed.

A citizens group called Protect A2 Parks, which created the website AllAboardOnDepotStreet.com, has lobbied for a station on Depot Street instead of Fuller Park, arguing it's a better location. Among the group's concerns is the impact on Fuller Park.



"FRA's preliminary determination is that Alternative 3A would result in a de minimis impact to Fuller Park," the new report states.