HRT plans to upgrade Norfolk bus maintenance facility…
HRT plans to upgrade Norfolk bus maintenance facility with stimulus money
WTKR-TV3
Hampton Roads Transit is getting over 20 million dollars of federal transportation stimulus money. The majority of it is being used to upgrade the aging bus maintenance facility in Norfolk.
Pieces of history scatter the floor at the HRT maintenance bus facility in Norfolk. Built in the early 1900′s this building was originally used to maintain the old trolley street cars.
While trolleys were eventually replaced by buses for public transportation, the maintenance facility in Norfolk stayed the same.
“It’s inefficient to run our operation out of this very old building.”
In order to get a bus in the maintenance bay they had to have three mechanics. The space for the bus was too narrow for a modern bus.
Not much has changed inside the maintenance shop since it was built over 100 years ago. You can see the trolley tracks are still there and the paint looks to be original. The paint is now crumbling off the ceiling, the shop’s sky lights now provide very poor light, and there’s no air conditioning.
“This building is an example of old industrial construction; it is all cast concrete.”
For crews having to work here, it was like sitting in a hot oven, which is why HRT is building a new state of the art facility in its place.
While HRT is constructing the new Southside maintenance facility, they are setting up at the old ford plant.
They added new doors and mobile lifts so that HRT crews can still work until the new facility is built.
It’s a big project moving hundreds of buses to the old ford plant and totally rebuilding the facility off 18th and Armistad. HRT is spending 70 million dollars to do all of this work.
The majority of the money coming from state funding but 24.5 million is coming from federal transportation stimulus money awarded to the state.
14 million of this money will go towards construction and the other 10.5 million will be spent on some new buses and equipment.
It’s an expensive upgrade for HRT but HRT president and CEO Michael Townes says it will be worth it for the millions of people who ride the bus here in Hampton roads.
“It’s going to mean that their service is more reliable. It’s going to mean our costs will grow slower. It’s going to mean we are going to serve the public better.”
Demolition will start here at the HRT Southside maintenance facility in a couple of weeks. HRT officials expect construction to be complete in 18 months and that’s when HRT crews will move back.