SMART Teams Up With MDOT and DDOT to Create New Transit Options

February 15, 2008 … The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transit (SMART) are making Michigan history! Working together, the three agencies are advancing initiatives that promote transit and save fuel by encouraging two or more occupants to travel together. MDOT will designate Michigan’s first HOV or High Occupancy Vehicle lane.   DDOT and SMART will form an historic partnership to operate a new commuter bus service.

Michigan’s first HOV lane will run along a 5.25 mile stretch of Michigan Avenue from Wyoming Avenue to the Detroit Central Business District.  Like HOV lanes in other urban areas, it is designed to decrease the number of vehicles moving through a congested corridor by encouraging multi-passenger travel via carpool, commuter van or bus.  

The Michigan Avenue HOV lane will serve as one of the alternate routes available to commuters during the 22-month closure of a section of I-75 from Rosa Parks Boulevard to Clark Street in southwest Detroit.  The closure is in effect during the construction of the MDOT Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project.  MDOT Gateway is a $170 million economic development initiative that will improve the flow of traffic at the Detroit – Windsor border and provide a direct connection between the Ambassador Bridge, I-75, I-96 and other area freeways.  It will also improve safety by removing truck traffic from city streets.     

“Quote from the director about the HOV lane here”

Forming a first-time partnership to jointly operate a route, DDOT and SMART have created the Gateway Express.  This all new commuter bus service extends 19.25 miles from the Gibraltar Trade Center to Larned and St. Antoine Streets in downtown Detroit. The route includes travel along the new HOV route.  It is designed to provide Downriver commuters a transit alternative for reaching downtown Detroit during Gateway construction.

The Gateway Express will run during morning rush hours between 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and during evening rush hours from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.  The Gateway Express will pick up commuters at three SMART Park & Ride lots in the Downriver area located at:

• The Gibraltar Trade Center on the south side of Eureka Road, a block west of I-75 in Taylor 
• Faith Christian Church on the north side of Outer Drive about a half of a mile west of I-75 in Melvindale  
• The Melvindale lot located on the northeast corner of Allen Road and Outer Drive in Melvindale  

Cost of the service will be $2.00 per one-way trip with multi-ride passes from DDOT and SMART also available. To encourage ridership aboard the Gateway Express, commuters are invited to ride free of charge from Monday, February 25 to Monday, March 3. For more information on Gateway Express service, call SMART Customer Service at 866-962-5515 or DDOT Transit Information at 313-933-1300.

“The opportunities are great, as DDOT combines efforts with MDOT and SMART to address the transit challenge during the MDOT Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project.  The partnership between the three agencies will strengthen the entire region -- economically, environmentally and efficiently,” said DDOT’s Interim Director Lovevett Williams.  “We look forward to working with MDOT and SMART in an effort to provide reliable, customer-friendly service alternatives during this historic and monumental project.”

SMART General Manager Hayes Jones said:  “When I tell people we are working together with MDOT and DDOT to develop the first High Occupancy Lane in the State of Michigan, they are ecstatic.  Between the new routes, changed service and the HOV lane, a huge amount of planning went into this project to improve congestion and keep traffic moving.  This collaboration goes one step further, to give the community mobility options they never had before.  We invite new customers who have not ridden public transportation before, to try it out.”