CU to relocate bus transfer facility during construction

The parking lot at the southwest corner of Campbell and Olive downtown will soon be closed to public use while City Utilities renovates its bus transfer.

CU will lease the parking lot, owned by Warren Davis Properties, for a temporary city bus transfer location while the Park Central Transfer Facility undergoes construction to replace its lanes from July 6 to Aug. 4, according to CU Manager of Transportation Kathy Fritts.

"We will remove and replace the concrete driving lanes for the buses. There's a lot of deterioration and cracking in the concrete and dropping of the concrete plates. What this does over time, besides pose a bit of a safety hazard, is create a lot of wear and tear on our buses," Fritts said.

Carol Cruise, CU's director of transportation services, said 230 buses enter and exit the facility each day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The lot houses approximately 140 parking spaces, 20 of which are rented for $20 per month by employees of downtown businesses, according to Ron Shepherd of Davis Properties. Shepherd said Davis Properties has already notified tenants they will need to park elsewhere and offered another lot at the northwest corner of Campbell and Olive owned by Bent Agee.

Construction cost for the concrete work at the facility is estimated at $129,000, Fritts said, and Springfield company Apac-Masters Jackson has the contract. She said CU has replaced deteriorated concrete slabs at the transfer facility before, but decided this time to completely replace the lanes upon the recommendation of a consultant. The rest of the facility will not undergo any construction.

"In past years, we have tried one at a time to replace the slabs, which causes a lot of disruption and really doesn't solve the problem," Fritts said.

CU Design Engineer Tom Buckley said noise emanating from the removal of the existing concrete should be minimal because of the saw-cut method the contractor will use.

"They will cut the concrete into sections, pick up the individual sections and load them on a truck and take them out. Hopefully, there will be very minimal jackhammering," Buckley said.

Buckley said traffic problems on McDaniel or Park Central West shouldn't be an issue with the work.

Fritts said Apac-Masters Jackson will do some work on the temporary facility before starting construction on the Park Central facility, including moving in bus shelters, benches and striping two lanes for buses to stage loading and unloading.

Fritts said the security guards who work at the permanent facility will also move to the temporary one for the duration of the construction.

She said the street lighting at Campbell and Olive should be adequate for the temporary facility, and CU has no plans to install additional lighting.