BWAT Working On Options For Bus Transfer Center

Three options are being looked at in regards to a bus transfer center for Blue Water Area Transit.  One will be decided upon before  the upcoming Feb. 27 meeting with the Port Huron City Council and Jim Wilson, general manager of the bus company.  All three options include a similar design for a transit hub and transfer lanes through the south McMorran Place parking lot. Using lanes west of the transfer center, buses will run from McMorran Boulevard to Grand River Avenue and vice versa.  Some 22 angled parking spaces will be available on Superior Mall. McMorran Boulevard will be narrowed to one lane in each direction with large drop-off locations near McMorran Place.  Where the difference comes in is the location of nearly 300 parking spaces.  One option calls for 293 spaces to the west of the station, while another  includes a 110-space parking lot separating the transfer center from Superior Mall. A parking lot west of the bus lanes and east of Erie Street would hold 186 vehicles.  There is also a plan that would shift the transit hub and bus lanes east, with only 50 parking spaces between Superior Mall and the transfer center. A parking lot west of that would have 242 spaces.  There has been concern expressed by business owners in the Superior Mall block, that customers would have to walk around the bus station to get to their place of business.