Blue Water Transit Bus Center Opens With Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Dec. 30, 2015

Related To: Blue Water Area Transit (BWAT)

From left to right, Anita Ashford, Blue Water Area Transportation Commission vice-chair and Port Huron City Council member; Ray Straffon, former Blue Water Area Transportation Commission chair; Jim Fisher, former Blue Water Area Transportation Commission chair; Linda Bruckner, Blue Water Area Commission chair and Fort Gratiot Township trustee; Ed Smith, representing Candice Miller, U.S. Representative; Janet Geissler, Michigan Department of Transportation supervisor; Dan Lauwers, Michigan representative; Pauline Repp, mayor of Port Huron; Kirk Steudle, P.E., Michigan Department of Transportation director; Jim Wilson, Blue Water Area Transit general manager; and Cliff Schrader, former Blue Water Area Transportation Commission vice-chair.

Blue Water Area Transit held a Grand Opening celebration for its new downtown transfer center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on Dec. 11. The new transfer hub is designed to improve the process of boarding buses downtown to travel along seven routes throughout Port Huron and neighboring townships.

The Blue Water Transit Bus Center is designed to help maintain the transit agency’s on-time performance and improve comfort, safety, and convenience for the more than 2,000 passengers who transfer buses downtown daily. With two buildings measuring 7,400 square feet, the new center replaces BWAT’s Quay Street outdoor transfer point.

“This is great, to be able to finally give our passengers a place away from traffic where they can transfer buses downtown,” says Anita R. Ashford, Blue Water Area Transportation Commission vice-chair and Port Huron City Council member. “The Quay Street area where buses used to line up for transfers should also benefit from less congestion.”

BWAT’s $9.8 million transfer center project started nearly nine months ago. In addition to support from the transit agency, federal funds support 70 percent and state funds support 17.5 percent of the project.

“The center is ideally located to serve our local community college, senior center, McMorran entertainment complex, and the heart of downtown,” says Jim Wilson, BWAT general manager. “Passengers now have new amenities including heated waiting areas, ticket vending machines, bus schedule displays, and public restrooms.”

Officials say the center will continue to develop over time.

“BWAT will develop outdoor areas into inviting places to gather,” Wilson explains. “We’ll have tables and seating for people to play board games (like chess and checkers) and an area that’s suitable for hosting events like craft fairs and farmers’ markets.”

St. Clair County Community Mental Health will also open a convenience store in the center this spring. It will use this store as a training site where snacks and basic grocery items are sold.

BWAT’s transfer center project is designed by Stevens Architects LLC, of Port Huron, along with the global firm AECOM, and managed by DeMaria Construction, of Detroit. The project has awarded $7.65 million to Michigan contractors. Of that amount, $3.27 million has been awarded to six local contractors: Raymond Excavating, Sherman Nursery, AIS Paving, Edward J. Painting, Zimmer Roofing, and Stevenson Electric.

BWAT’s Grand Opening celebration featured live music by the Whistle Stop Revue, a local band that performs an original bluegrass jingle for BWAT’s advertising