Stimulus cash to fund Detroit wharf; ferry envisioned

DetroitMan · #1 Posted **Jul 14, 2009, 10:40 PM**

Stimulus cash to fund Detroit wharf; ferry envisioned

By TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • July 14, 2009

Updated at 4:45 p.m.

WASHINGTON — With an eye toward someday providing ferry service up and down the Detroit River, the U.S. Department of Transportation today committed more than $7 million to an offshore wharf that could also be used for cruise ships, tall ships and more.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin says it could “help accommodate ships from all over the country and hopefully provide a much needed economic boost to the region.”

It’s also one of the biggest grants awarded under the $60 million in projects announced today by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. That money — authorized by the $787-billion stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February — is specifically targeted to the Federal Highway Administration’s Ferry Boat program, intended for the construction and repair of ferry boats and terminal facilities.

In LaHood’s news release announcing the grants, it said the Detroit project is being funded because “ferry service to the suburbs is necessary,” but as it stands now, there are no definite plans for who would offer such service, when it would be offered, or which Detroit River communities could be served.

John Kerr, director of economic development for the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, said construction of the 200-foot-by-40-foot offshore wharf, to be funded in part by the $7.1 million in stimulus money, could lead to such service. A handful of interested vendors have already contacted the Port Authority, he said.

The application for the funding noted that hundreds of people from downriver and Macomb County communities could utilize a ferry service each day and, longer term, a service could be used to move people between Detroit and Windsor, across the international border.

According to Kerr, possible boarding and disembarking points could be Wyandotte and Grosse Ile downriver and the Grosse Pointes, St. Clair Shores and Port Huron upriver. Work is already being done on the dock and terminal between the Renaissance Center and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit, and an offshore wharf would help solve complications created by anchoring at the seawall near stormwater outflows.

The Port Authority expects the total cost of the project to be $23.7 million and, once completed, it should be able to handle any type of vessel wishing to dock in Detroit, including cruise ships, ferries, water taxis, tall ships and more. A passenger terminal could house customers and border patrol personnel to process passengers from other countries cruising the Great Lakes.

It is expected to be completed by spring.
http://www.freep.com/article/2009071...ry-envisioned-

LMich · #2 Posted **Jul 15, 2009, 4:45 AM**

The more I see of this, the less I like if I'm being honest. It seems like there is no true leader on this, and no seems to be putting any interest into researching and studying this. Instead, we're getting phrases "could utilize" when we should be hearing about a study that shows the demand. Kerr & Company need to step up and be serious about this. You all know how optimistic I am of just about every recent project to ever grace Detroit, but this is a project where I don't at all feel comfortable in predicting that this will be anything other than a dock for the Detroit Princess and Diamond Jack tours, and that certainly wouldn't have been worth it.

plinko · #3 Posted **Jul 15, 2009, 4:51 AM**

*trying to imagine a cruiseship on the Detroit River*

Question: what exactly was required in order to get the stimulus cash for this? Is there REALLY any demand for ferry service in Detroit?

I'm echoing the sentiments of Lilton here, it just seems a little disjointed.

Question: is there existing ferry service to Windsor?

LMich · #4 Posted **Jul 15, 2009, 5:13 AM**

To be fair, one doesn't have to imagine. The Great Lakes is home to cruise ships. The reasoning behind the construction, in fact, is to make Detroit one of the main ports. The demand is definitely there.

Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear. I'm not against the idea of a dock and wharf, but I'm skeptical given that so little planning seems to have gone into this. I've been expecting to hear about service before this thing started construction, while, instead, this is appearing more and more like a speculative project. I think Detroit could have a successful dock, but I've seen absolutely no work put into actually studying the details of demand and subsequently designing and building the dock to those specifications, so I remain very skeptical about the success. The whole project reeks of worrying about details, later.

Nope, there is not passenger ferry service between the two cities, hasn't been for decades. There's a truck ferry mainly used by industry.

Jasoncw · #5 Posted **Jul 15, 2009, 5:44 PM**

I think the 23 million would be better spent on real mass transit.

hudkina · #6 Posted **Jul 15, 2009, 7:35 PM**

Living Downriver, I think it would be a great idea to be able to hop on a ferry in Wyandotte or Trenton and take it downtown.

As far as cruise ships, I'm sure things will fall into place, especially when the economy turns around. There is a growing interest in Great Lakes crusies (especially among Europeans) and even if there are no current plans for regular service, I'm sure some company will add regular stops.

UpNorthMI · #7 Posted **Jul 16, 2009, 2:59 AM**

We get, quite literally, boat loads of Germans up here in Traverse City from Great Lakes Cruise ships.

dfred on Flickr

Detroit should no doubt get in on this. As you can see in this picture, we don't even have anywhere for them to get off the boat on shore so they have to be ferried in. Any development in Downtown Detroit can be nothing but good. I hope it works out.

jodelli · #8 Posted **Jul 16, 2009, 7:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by hudkina

Living Downriver, I think it would be a great idea to be able to hop on a ferry in Wyandotte or Trenton and take it downtown.

As far as cruise ships, I'm sure things will fall into place, especially when the economy turns around. There is a growing interest in Great Lakes crusies (especially among Europeans) and even if there are no current plans for regular service, I'm sure some company will add regular stops.

Although not a regular service there have been occasional smaller cruise ships stopping in the area.

And reportedly Edsel Ford used to drive his Crouch model Typhoon speedboat between the Rouge and the estate in Grosse Pointe Shores.

Blitz · #9 Posted **Jul 16, 2009, 6:21 PM**

Some of the cruise ships are enormous and they're popular amongst Europeans. This one has docked in Windsor a few times:

Picture is from www.boatnerd.com

robk1982 · #10 Posted **Jul 17, 2009, 1:35 AM**

I would love to go on a Great Lakes cruise, but they're too d*mn expensive.

twomutts · #11 Posted **Jul 17, 2009, 7:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMich

...I'm skeptical given that so little planning seems to have gone into this. I've been expecting to hear about service before this thing started construction, while, instead, this is appearing more and more like a speculative project...

That's part of the problem with the stimulus plan setup. It's kind of a mad rush to get stimulus dollars. Originally any plans slated to receive cash were supposed to be "shovel ready". Problem is, if a project is shovel ready, it probably already had cash lined up or at least was in an area where stimulus dollars weren't desperately needed. Cities like Detroit, which has had limited development interest, are scrambling to come up with any project, just so they can get their "fair share" of the bucks. Meanwhile, mass transit plans, which take enormous amounts of planning and political cooperation, simply aren't positioned well to ask for federal dollars and as a result are missing out.

I really wish the stimulus dollars were more need based and that they could have put in some kind of distribution time buffer so plans could be well thought out before getting money. I guess that takes away the immediate stimulus effect, though...

LMich · #12 Posted **Jul 18, 2009, 2:15 AM**

The stimulus actually isn't the problem, here. This thing has been designed and ready to go for many months, now. The actual plan has been years in the making, so it was most certainly shovel-ready. My only problem, again, is the complete lack of planning for actual service, a kind of "we'll worry about the details" later kind of thing.

As an analogy, it'd be something akin to building a fancy, state-of-the-art stadium without knowing whether or not you'd be able to get anything larger than a minor league team to fill it. Detroit shouldn't be hoping for cruise ferry service; it should have already been contracted months ago, especially given how long they've been planning this terminal and dock.

jodelli · #13 Posted **Jul 18, 2009, 11:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blitz

Some of the cruise ships are enormous and they're popular amongst Europeans. This one has docked in Windsor a few times:

Yeah, that is pretty large for the upper lakes. But the really big ones can't make it up the Seaway locks, plus the standard dredged channel depth is around 27 feet.
Same with the freighters, the 1000 footers have to be built here and can't go downstream any further than Buffalo.