The Bloomington City Council met last night to discuss issues concerning local firefighters, funds and salaries, but also turned its attention to a Bloomington project that's been a long time coming: the new Transit Center currently under construction at the corner of North Walnut and East 3rd Street.
Lew May, General Manager at Bloomington Transit, stood before the council about halfway through the meeting to make his case for three appropriations of funds totaling $1.5 million to complete the project. Appropriations included additional funds for the center itself, as well as money to replace a diesel bus for one of its routes and funding to support its mobile app.
The motion to appropriate a total of $1.5 million to Bloomington Transit passed unanimously Wednesday night.
The new transit center is set to open this summer and is being established with the goal of making public transportation in this town "safer, more secure and more comfortable," according to Bloomington Transit's website. This project has already cost Bloomington over $18 million, which exceeds any figure they intended to spend, May said.
The additions to the building are costing Bloomington Transit more than expected, May said. Change orders include soil testing on the grounds, compensation for extra labor and additional construction work most notably on the outdoor canopies. They are costing several hundred thousand dollars more than what was originally anticipated.
These costs are in addition to several design expenses totaling $231,716, which account for much of the local art decorating the benches and bike racks. The expenses also include the expansion of the station's multipurpose room, which will provide a driver's training service area as well as be a dispatch for emergency/911 services.
"As we've encountered these additional costs, we've gone back into the project and we've taken out certain elements to try to win some savings on the project…and we've been able to realize about $175,000 dollars in savings by scaling down the project slightly," May said at the meeting. "Time equals money."
Although money seems to keep running out on this project, May stressed that there were several unplanned-for circumstances that could not have been avoided. Most notably, the site of the Center was sitting on what Bloomington Transit did not realize were gas reserves beneath the surface. Construction workers had to dig deep, remove the tanks, and remove and replace any contaminated soil. It was a real and important issue, but one Bloomington Transit just didn't see coming, May said.
The project is also keeping sustainability at the forefront of its goals: it plans to obtain a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification for the lengths it has gone to to be an eco-friendly site. Bloomington Transit's website states an extensive sixteen points of how the facility will remain green.
Larry Jacobs, a member of the Chamber of Commerce for the city, spoke at the meeting in May's favor and sang his praises. "I don't know how he ever sleeps," he said, laughing, but quickly became serious. "I think it's a really worthwhile project. Probably one of the biggest ones we've had for years."
The center will feature both climate-controlled indoor and canopied outdoor waiting areas, as well as bike lockers for local cyclists, and will showcase some of Bloomington's finest assets — local artists have designed the benches, bike racks and a wall sculpture for the building, and the facade of the structure will be covered in Indiana's signature limestone.
The Transit Center does not have a concrete opening date, but authorities suggest that curious minds check Bloomington Transit's Facebook page for regular updates and photos of how the project is coming along.
