Yes, it was a major redo. It included 35 bridges and 8.5 miles of the freeway and was valued then at $42 million. It was called "The Big Fix on 496." It went from April to November of that year, so lucky if you were a student who used it - like me - that a good chunk of it was during the summer.
Thanks for the history, now that I look at it on google I can see the changes. Now they could repave from Grand Ave to the western end of the highway, then I would think about using it.
LANSING — For state workers, getting to favorite Old Town lunch spots just got easier.
Starting Aug. 27, the Capital Area Transportation Authority will offer free rides between Old Town and downtown over the lunch hour.
The Grab & Go Express will operate Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. with departures every 15 minutes. The free route will be a one-year pilot program.
“My hope is that this is very successful and we launch into a number of circulators in the future," said CATA CEO Bradley T. Funkhouser
Waiving the fare makes it easier for people to hop on and off the route since they won't be fumbling with cash and tickets, he said. Funkhouser said he also expects to collect feedback to tweak the route to make it more user friendly.
The route will stop at 26 bus stops along Washington Avenue, Shiawassee Street, Larch Street, Oakland Avenue, César E. Chávez Avenue, Ottawa Avenue, Pine Street, Allegan Street and Kalamazoo Street.
This is awesome and will make it very easy for office workers to also run errands during their lunch break. I know the fares are already pretty reasonable, but removing them really will make hopping on and off seamless, especially if people have multiple destinations since they wouldn't be able to use a transfer in the same direction.
I like that the new CEO is saying this isn't the end. When I suggested this before, I'd suggested that they included REO Town in the loop, somehow. Hopefully, that happens. Actually, it doesn't even have to be in the loop, they could just have a mid-day shuttle up and down Washington (looping around on to Capitol to get the workers), and hopefully it could be expanded into later hours and then eventually the weekends when we get more density going. You know, sort of like the Entertainment Express, and they could simply use smaller vehicles for the shorter trips.
Yes linking our three classic downtowns with a free and easy shuttle would be even better. Maybe add an east-west loop through the outer Capitol Complex and crossing the north-south loop downtown and going out to Sparrow and back. My bright idea about those loops would be to rehab a small fleet[4/6?] of vintage city buses and run them on the free loops. It would be very cool to find perhaps an REO Speedwagon bus or some other buses from the fifties and sixties that were made in Michigan.
I always wished they'd throw a free train trolly on the tracks that from old town to downtown... even if its mostly just a tourist attraction. Rive ferry service in the summer would be pretty sweet too!!!
We talked about it last when it was announced in June that this project made it into the budget, but the East Lansing City Council voted on approving the Coleman Road Extension project, which would connect West Road in East Lansing with Wood Road in Lansing Township along an old railway.
I guess the idea behind this is to relieve a bit of pressure off Lake Lansing by allowing all of the cross-traffic between Eastwood and the apartments up on Chandler it's own path instead of having to come down to Lake Lansing and cross all the traffic entering and exiting the freeway. I kind of hope CATA will use this as a bypass, too.
Anyway, we learn from the city memo that they plan to start this project in spring of next year, and that the Clinton County Road Commission will be the lead agency on it, since the vast majority of the project is in Clinton County save for the southwestern end of the route.
Bringing Coleman road under the freeway should do wonders to reduce traffic on Lake Lansing. Navigating that area during the day is painful, they should have done this sooner.
Comments
Yes, it was a major redo. It included 35 bridges and 8.5 miles of the freeway and was valued then at $42 million. It was called "The Big Fix on 496." It went from April to November of that year, so lucky if you were a student who used it - like me - that a good chunk of it was during the summer.
Thanks for the history, now that I look at it on google I can see the changes. Now they could repave from Grand Ave to the western end of the highway, then I would think about using it.
The LSJ has finally picked up on the new CATA city center circulator route:
CATA to launch lunchtime bus route between downtown and Old Town
This is awesome and will make it very easy for office workers to also run errands during their lunch break. I know the fares are already pretty reasonable, but removing them really will make hopping on and off seamless, especially if people have multiple destinations since they wouldn't be able to use a transfer in the same direction.
I like that the new CEO is saying this isn't the end. When I suggested this before, I'd suggested that they included REO Town in the loop, somehow. Hopefully, that happens. Actually, it doesn't even have to be in the loop, they could just have a mid-day shuttle up and down Washington (looping around on to Capitol to get the workers), and hopefully it could be expanded into later hours and then eventually the weekends when we get more density going. You know, sort of like the Entertainment Express, and they could simply use smaller vehicles for the shorter trips.
Yes linking our three classic downtowns with a free and easy shuttle would be even better. Maybe add an east-west loop through the outer Capitol Complex and crossing the north-south loop downtown and going out to Sparrow and back. My bright idea about those loops would be to rehab a small fleet[4/6?] of vintage city buses and run them on the free loops. It would be very cool to find perhaps an REO Speedwagon bus or some other buses from the fifties and sixties that were made in Michigan.
I always wished they'd throw a free train trolly on the tracks that from old town to downtown... even if its mostly just a tourist attraction. Rive ferry service in the summer would be pretty sweet too!!!
Also... Saginaw Street in East Lansing is nearly finished!
We talked about it last when it was announced in June that this project made it into the budget, but the East Lansing City Council voted on approving the Coleman Road Extension project, which would connect West Road in East Lansing with Wood Road in Lansing Township along an old railway.
I guess the idea behind this is to relieve a bit of pressure off Lake Lansing by allowing all of the cross-traffic between Eastwood and the apartments up on Chandler it's own path instead of having to come down to Lake Lansing and cross all the traffic entering and exiting the freeway. I kind of hope CATA will use this as a bypass, too.
Anyway, we learn from the city memo that they plan to start this project in spring of next year, and that the Clinton County Road Commission will be the lead agency on it, since the vast majority of the project is in Clinton County save for the southwestern end of the route.
Bringing Coleman road under the freeway should do wonders to reduce traffic on Lake Lansing. Navigating that area during the day is painful, they should have done this sooner.