Chamber President's Commentary -- GLB REGION: Highway Access to MBS

January 24, 2013
By: Bay Area Chamber of Commerce

Great Lakes Bay Region: Highway Access to MBS

When the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance was organized, one of the primary initiatives of the Alliance was to further develop and promote one of the key assets of the region, the MBS International Airport.

The development and promotion was divided into three related initiatives. (1) Work on funding, primarily through the FAA, to construct a new passenger terminal. (2) Improve highway access to the airport, creating the infrastructure incentive for commercial economic development around the terminal. (3) Work on recruiting a third carrier to compete with Delta and United, creating more competitive air fares.

For those passengers traveling from the West, North, and East of MBS, the primary access to the terminal is Garfield Road. The interchange from U.S. 10 to Garfield Road is extremely dated and is not conducive to commercial truck traffic. The section of Garfield Road from U.S. 10 to the new MBS terminal is also not conducive to commercial truck traffic. In order to attract any commercial economic development adjacent to the terminal, it is believed that major improvements need to be made to Garfield Road and the U.S. 10 interchange.

This project has the complete support of the Bay, Midland, and Saginaw Chambers of Commerce, as well as the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance.