Capital Transit is busy this summer —and they have a busy year ahead.
Katie Koester, engineering and public works director for the City and Borough of Juneau, told the Public Works and Facilities Committee that work on the Valley Transit Center is moving forward. She expects the facility, located at 9101 Mendenhall Mall Road, to open next summer.
In a memo shared with the committee, John Bohan, chief city engineer for the project, said that bids were recently opened for the Valley Transit Center and that Admiralty Construction was awarded the contract for $1.95 million. According to the memo, Admiralty submitted the lowest bid.
“The work includes constructing a driver break room and restroom, bus shelters for passengers, a substantial parking lot for park and ride, and electrical vehicle charging stations. Also included in the project is providing the infrastructure necessary for the installation of electric bus chargers in the future,” Bohan’s memo reads.
So far, so good: New Glory Hall facility opens on Teal Street
New bus routes
Once the Valley Transit Center opens, bus routes will change, Koester said. The new routes will add stops at the center and near the new Glory Hall location on Teal Street.
“We are working with a consultant to figure out what the new routes will look like,” she said. “We want to make sure it works for riders and drivers and the electric bus.”
She said that additional route changes would happen when more electric busses join the fleet.
“That will require a more robust and comprehensive look at routes,” she said, explaining that new routes will need to take into account bus charging time.
In April, Capital Transit introduced the state’s first electric bus. When the electric bus was launched, Mayor Beth Weldon said that Juneau would eventually run a fleet of 18 electric busses. She said that funding for the next seven busses had already been awarded.
New shelters
Riders waiting for a bus at Whittier Street near the Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building, in the Mendenhall Loop Road roundabouts and in the Lemon Creek area of Glacier Highway will wait inside new bus shelters soon.
According to Bohan’s memo, the new shelters are on the way to Juneau and will be installed over the balance of the summer and into the fall. The Lemon Creek shelter will be installed once the construction in the area is complete.
• Contact reporter Dana Zigmund at dana.zigmund@juneauempire.com or 907-308-4891.
