LANSING - CATA Assistant Executive Director Deb Alexander responded on behalf of CATA to an informal petition submitted to the Meridian Township Board with the signatures of 55 local businesses opposing the proposed bus rapid transit.

The petition was submitted by Owner of A & G Associates of East Lansing, George Tesseris.

Alexander said the project is only about 30 percent complete so 70 percent of the project designs haven't even been made yet.

"Of course during that design process we will be taking into account the items that the businesses raised and whether or not there are any modifications that we can make," Alexander said.

Some specific concerns addressed from businesses were the negative implications the BRT would have on their business with aspects including a proposed elimination of left-hand turn lanes, a median in the center of the road, and inaccessibility of delivery trucks.

“The purpose of putting the medians in the roadway is to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians, and national research indicates that putting medians in will reduce accidents about 40 percent. That’s a significant increase in safety along the corridor and so that’s why we believe it’s a very important element to continue to have,” Alexander said.

Alexander also added that accessibility can be addressed in future design proposals and that delivery trucks plan their trips in accordance with the safest way to reach their destination.

“My thinking is that they will approach the business in a different way than they do today and that they’ll make their travel in a way in which they can do it safely and they won’t get their vehicle stuck,” Alexander said.

The project is projected to cost $133 million, and some members of the community have spoken out saying that money could be used for other things.

Alexander said this federal and state money can actually not go to other issues and is only eligible to go towards public transportation.

Alexander added that while some were concerned with improving the roads, the transit money brought in will actually be put in place to improve roads, which wouldn't be possible without the project.

"It actually is accomplishing both in a betterment to the roadway as well as providing a public transportation improvement, so we are accomplishing both of those objectives with money that normally would not be used for the roadway," Alexander said.

CATA serves 11.5 million trips annually and in the particular corridor in which the BRT is proposed to be built, 1.7 million trips are taken each year.

"Those customers’ travel and mobility is important to CATA and given that we are at capacity it’s very difficult for us to improve our service without having a negative impact on the autos. We are taking a very responsible position in recognizing that we need to improve the flow of all transportation modes in this community, so I would strongly encourage people to consider it from that angle," Alexander said.

CATA is hopeful that the community will want to grow economically and believe this project can be a catalyst for that continued growth and strength from an economic perspective.

Alexander said although she understand some may not be in support of this project a number of community members have communicated about the value of this project and they support it as well, so viewing the project with a balanced perspective is important.

“I encourage the community to stay involved in listening and educating themselves about the project and to consider the impact on the region as a whole and then talk with us specifically about concerns they’d like us to address for them individually," Alexander said.

CATA has been collecting comments on the project since 2009 and will continue to do so on their website, cata-brt.org.

“This project is a process. It is not set in stone that this project is going to happen. We have still a long way to go under the federal process that we have to follow before the project will be deemed absolutely a go," Alexander said.