Ann 18 Arbor Station Cost Estimates Escalate

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It’s not just about Ann Arbor

The Ever-Expanding Estimates

Ann Arbor Station Cost Estimates 2009-2018

Details Matter: The Priority is Parking

Ann Arbor Station cost estimates have escalated signi!cantly from the last information provided to the public in the fall of 2017. In early January, 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) staff who have worked on the Ann Arbor Station Environmental Assessment responded to the preliminary engineering project budget. They stated that the construction budget submitted in September 2018 is “an order of magnitude higher” than other new stations along the Wolverine Line between Detroit and Chicago that have received FRA grant funds.

We followed up and asked for the second draft of cost estimates submitted in September 2018*, which is yet to be formally presented to the public. The answer: Construction costs for full build-out, described as Phase 1 and Phase 2 combined, are now estimated at $171,400,000*. This most recent amount is a 99% increase from the the January 2018 estimate of $86,192,278, which was corrected for a math error that understated total costs for Phases 1 and 2. In October 2017, project staff said that the budget could increase or decrease. The September 2018 amount submitted to the FRA for review is greater than any wild dream.

A question for the community: Do the people of Ann Arbor agree with the priority of the expense proposed for Ann Arbor Amtrak Station project?

Some context to consider: Amtrak owns and operates the train station that is located on Depot Street. The location has served our community for 180 years. If the city proceeds with the project in Fuller Park, the result would be to use public park land for the parking structure, and to take on the costs to construct, own, manage, and maintain the parking structure and a train station.

It’s not just about Ann Arbor

The FRA staff assessment of the project cost estimate is a big concern. They implied that FRA funding of the proposed Ann Arbor Station budget would be a"ected by needs of other passenger rail facilities. In other words, the FRA proportion of funding is unknown, and likely limited by the need to support improvements along the entire Wolverine Line between Pontiac and Chicago.

Rail passengers all along the Wolverine Line, including people in the communities of Ypsilanti, Jackson, Marshall, and Battle Creek, as well as Indiana and Illinois could be affected if Ann Arbor uses a disproportionate share of funds. Conversely, Ann Arbor cannot count on monopolizing FRA funding resources.

The Ever-Expanding Estimates

Can we expect costs to increase even more, assuming that the project continues? The project history indicates that the answer to that question is: Yes.

The FRA suggested that project staff investigate “value engineering”, to reduce some costs. The outcome of additional work on the cost estimate budget is yet to be provided to the public.

Ann Arbor Station Cost Estimates 2009-2018 (insert a table version of data)

Date (Notes, below) (1) March 2009

(2) September 2017

(3) September 2018

Estimate

$64,170,000 $86,192,278 $171,410,000*

% Change from prior estimate

34%

99%

The September 2018 estimate is based on preliminary engineering of the full construction project. Additional costs to be included in the !nal tally are for changes to roadways surrounding the site, Environmental Assessment expenses from prior years, and costs to finalize detailed engineering speci!cations for construction.

Details Matter: The Priority is Parking

Budgets represent priorities. We encourage readers to review the detail of the Ann Arbor Station cost estimate*. Approximately 71% of the $171,410,000* costs estimated are dedicated to parking, while only 12% of the total costs are planned for the train station itself. The conflict in priorities is a sad comment on the entire project, because the funding for parking supports ongoing use of large numbers of automobiles and clearly overshadows mass transit.

Members of Protect A2 Parks support the goal to encourage people to switch their transportation mode from cars to mass transit services. We want the future of transportation in our community to reduce our collective carbon emissions. We question the disproportionate level of funding to support driving and storing 1,185 automobiles at the site of a public train station.

While Ann Arbor Station project cost estimates have expanded signi!cantly, we have yet to hear of the plan to pay for the proposed station. There are many unanswered questions. We want an open discussion among community members, with the goal of supporting use of mass transportation and a clean environment. Let’s start the discussion.

Notes:

(1) The early Ann Arbor Multimodal Transit Station Issue Analysis (p. 15) shows cost estimates for full build-out of parking for 780-1100 cars by Phase 2, in 2009 dollars. The project goal at that time was to build a new parking structure, funded primariliy by UM, with approximately 80% of spaces for UM use. Construction of a new train station was referenced as a future project.

(2) Environmental Assessment Ann Arbor Intermodal Station, City of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan, Alternative 3A, Fuller Park, See p. 166; cost estimate amount was corrected to $86,192,278, based on math error of cost estimate.

(3) Alternative 3A, Fuller Park, full build to 1,165 (539 spaces Phase 1 plus 626 spaces Phase 2), in 2018 dollars. (Ann Arbor Train Station Conceptually Estimated Opinion, p. 3)

*Minor calculation errors found in the September 2018 project cost estimate table that was submitted to the FRA are marked with red highlight. View a spreadsheet with corrected subtotals and totals here.

2 thoughts on “– Ann Arbor Station Cost Estimates Escalate”

full hd tek parça izle says: January 16, 2021 at 11:45 pm

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Donald Salberg says: June 11, 2019 at 1:59 pm

Has anticipated usage been estimated and is that sufficient to justify the anticipated extraordinary cost?

Most commuters can be expected to be UofM employees. The UofM should be able to identify those employees that live within 10 miles of a feeder train station (Detroit, Dearborn, Romulus). Has the UofM surveyed these commuter candidates to determine how many are likely to use Amtrak to travel to and from Ann Arbor?

Factors likely to discourage commuters from using the trains include time to travel to feeder stations, parking costs at feeder train stations, infrequent and in#exible train schedules, likely lengthier travel time compared to driving and cost of train tickets.

The UofM wishes that all of its employees would commute by mass transit so it did not have to continually build expensive parking structures as its employment numbers increase. The cost per car space in the new train station parking structure is calculated to be $144,650 using figures included in this article. By comparison the cost for each parking space in the library parking structure was about $67,567. Of course that cost was for construction about ten years ago. Having federal, state and local funding is very desirable for the UofM.

Most benefits will be accrued by the UofM so I consider that UofM should finance the project by itself or certainly a major portion of the project. The UofM has spent nearly $200 million on a number of university construction and renovation projects and has access to necessary funds. Only a small cost should be borne by local tax payers who will not receive many benefits from the project. If the train station must be built at all!

Originally posted May 9, 2019