Comments on: UM Makes Plans for Pfizer Research Campus

By: Andy Piper

Andy Piper — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:20:20 +0000

Thanks for the coverage of this topic. It really sounds like the U of M is getting a fantastic deal on the pfizer property and a huge responsibility. Most people I talk to are extremely relieved that the U of M will be redeveloping the site vs it sitting empty. I don’t believe many private companies would be able to do with the site what U of M has the potential to do.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:47:46 +0000

There's a north-south connector study to be undertaken at some point for the Plymouth-State corridor, once allocation of funding responsibilities are determined for each of the four partners: UM, DDA, city of Ann Arbor, AATA. Some previous coverage of the north-south connector study is here.

By: Tom Whitaker

Tom Whitaker — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:02:27 +0000

Someone once suggested a cable car system between Central and North Campus. Probably not practical, but it would be a fun ride!

If you travel Fuller Road during most times of the day, you will invariably find yourself either behind or in front of a UM bus (often 3-4 in a row) packed with students traveling between North and Central Campus. Ridership numbers that most public transportation managers only dream about.

This is a good opportunity to experiment with some of the options Joel mentions, and UM should take the lead on this. Hopefully, mass transit to and from Ann Arbor for the thousands of UM Health System workers is not far behind–instead of more parking structures.

By: Steve Bean

Steve Bean — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:24:50 +0000

I think that a personal rapid transit (PRT) system like the JPods concept (www.jpods.com) would be well worth exploring. It has the highest potential for true sustainability of any non-human or animal-powered vehicle system that I’m aware of. One upside in our climate is that snow clearing wouldn’t be necessary, whereas it would be for ground-based systems. The nature of the campus (i.e., few road crossings) might allow such a system to be put in place.

By: Joel Batterman

Joel Batterman — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:29:22 +0000

It would be good to know more about the current state of progress on the City’s transportation plan, which identified the Northeast route from Central to North Campus and Plymouth, currently served by the AATA’s #2 bus, as the top opportunity for bringing high-capacity rapid transit (probably either bus rapid transit or streetcars) to Ann Arbor’s transit system. That would vastly benefit the U, City, and the efforts of both towards sustainability. Perhaps the Chronicle could investigate?

With all due respect to Woolliscroft, the idea of a “monorail” is vintage 1960. Streetcars, bus rapid transit, and light rail constitute the contemporary menu of enhanced local transit service.

By: ChrisW

ChrisW — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:09:40 +0000

There's a typo in the article: "By comparison, the Medical School and HHC paid $245 million to build the Biomedical Science Research Building, known as the BSRB – a 435,00-square-foot structure that opened three years ago." That's 435,000 square feet or 472,000 gross square feet according to link.

By: Nancy Shore

Nancy Shore — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:00:35 +0000

Thanks for the in-depth article. I am especially interested in how they are going to handle the transportation question. The UM has a great opportunity to encourage a large amount of people to look at using sustainable transportation as they look to purchase the Pfizer site. It’s often easier to get someone to look at alternatives when they are first starting a job, moving, etc. I hope the UM continues to look at how they can encourage the employees at this site to seek other forms of transportation rather that the single occupancy auto.

I also hope that the increased amount of people in this area will make something like a monorail viable. That sort of service could benefit a whole lot of people.