Doubling the number of transit riders in 10 years requires a lot of planning and some large investments in infrastructure. And with riders on The Rapid reaching a record high of 10.8 Million in the last year, a greatly enhanced and larger operations center could not have come at a better time.
The Rapid, Grand Rapids' transit authority, marked the opening of its newly renovated $32 Million Wealthy Operations Center this past week. The three-year project was made possible with a combination of $10.7 Million in Federal stimulus money and $17 Million in Federal transportation funding dollars.
To mark the occasion, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Senator Carl Levin made a special visit to participate in the ribbon cutting. As Ray LaHood pointed out, "The $10 Million for this project that came from Federal stimulus dollars did exactly what it was supposed to do: create jobs."
Carl Levin spoke about the reputation for collaboration in the area, saying, "West Michigan is known for working together. The biggest example of this is the 6 cities and suburban areas that make up the Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP), a feat that the Detroit area has not been able to accomplish."
The renovation project doubled the size of the old operations center to approximately 280,000 square feet, providing space for a much larger fleet (over 150 busses) and for future expansion of services. With the design work of ProgressiveAE and construction management from The Christman Companies, many "green" features were added to the building including large skylights to greatly reduce the need for artificial lighting, a 40,000-square-foot green roof (the largest in West Michigan), a water reclamation system for bus washing that saves 9 million gallons of water a year, and 95% of construction and demolition materials being diverted from landfills.
The facility also contains operations staff, driver training facilities and will soon house an on-site fitness room.
Writer: Jeff Hill
Source: Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transport; Carl Levin, Senator; Jennifer Kalczuk, The Rapid
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