Plans for new HRT maintenance facility in final design stage

NORFOLK

Hampton Roads Transit's governing board unanimously agreed Thursday to spend $4.5 million to complete plans for a new south side maintenance facility.

The buildings on 18th Street, some of which are more than 100 years old, are expensive to heat and cool and do not accommodate the needs of a modern bus fleet, officials said.

Originally designed to house the city's electric trolleys, the facilities have numerous design problems, including narrow maintenance bay doors that require the side view mirrors of buses to be folded against the bus body before being moved inside.

The vote Thursday will allow Concord Eastridge to develop a final design. It is expected by September.

Construction could begin in December or early next year. The project is expected to cost about $50.4 million.

The planned facility will be 106,000 square feet and will fit on the existing HRT property.

Originally, HRT sought a two-story maintenance facility but that would have required an arrangement of scissor lifts that planners decided were too complex.

By shrinking the size and eliminating the unusual lifts, planners have trimmed about $12 million from the project.

A planned administrative building also has shrunk from 56,000 square feet to about 40,000, saving about $2 million, HRT said.

Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, tom.holden@pilotonline.com