City transit center construction begins

Bloomington Transit has started construction on a new transit center.
The center will be on Third and Walnut Streets and should be completed within the next four months.

The center is a joint project between Bloomington Transit and the City of Bloomington, said Lew May, general manager at Bloomington Transit.

The building will have a second floor dedicated to the Bloomington/Monroe County 911 dispatch center, which is currently located at 223 E. Third St.

The city is paying about $2 million in construction costs and Bloomington Transit about $5 million, May said.

Money for the transit portion is coming from federal grants and local Bloomington Transit funds, May said.  

May mentioned a number of components Bloomington Transit is adding to the new center.

There will be canopies outside to shelter people from rain while waiting for the buses.
The canopies will reach far enough to allow passengers to get on the bus without getting wet, May said.

There will also be more passenger amenities on site, like public restrooms and air-conditioning, which the current Bloomington Transit center on Fourth and Washington Streets does not have, May said.

In an attempt to use more advanced technology, the construction staff is installing free wireless Internet for passengers waiting for buses at the center, May said, as well as digital information monitors with arrival times and bus tracking technologies.

For a local touch, the center is being constructed with Indiana limestone.

May said Bloomington Transit’s goal of receiving lead silver certification will be met by installing more eco-friendly features such as energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling and permeable pavement.

There are three different public art elements to the project.

The city has commissioned Dale Enochs, a local artist, to install a mural on the west side of the building, said Miah Michaelsen, director of arts for Bloomington Economic and Sustainable Development. The mural is titled “Breakaway.”

“He’s doing an aluminum mural that will be affixed to the wall,” Michaelsen said.  

“The mural indicates movement. Some of the imagery looks a bit like wheels, and it’s meant to be more abstract with the idea of transportation in mind.”

In addition to the mural, Matt Ellenwood has been selected to design artistic benches and bike racks that will be located on the site.

The bike racks will be hoop-style with an artistically designed “B” for Bloomington inside the hoop. There will be 22 of both the bike racks and benches, May said.

May said he hopes the new design and features will better manage the increase in bus riders Bloomington Transit has experienced in the past few years.

According to the City of Bloomington website, the city hoped to increase the number of bus rides taken annually to 7.5 million by 2014. The number of rides per year had not surpassed 3.5 million by 2011.

“We’ve outgrown the facility at Fourth and Washington, so the new site is going to give us future growth capability that we don’t have now,” May said.

“It’s going to give us a larger facility that will accommodate more people.”

— Kate Starr