The Phoenix Public Transit Department received a federal grant for $7.32 million on Oct. 20 for the refurbishment of its North Transportation Facility near 19th and Peoria avenues in north Phoenix.
The department applied for funding from the Federal Transit Administration because of the increasingly heavy bus traffic the facility has seen over the past several years.
“Typically these facilities see a lot of use, and they have hundreds of vehicles going in and out of them everyday, so this kind of upkeep is really vital in continuing good service,” said Matthew Heil, spokesman for the Public Transit Department.
Maintenance of the nearly 35,000-square-foot facility will include interior and exterior refurbishment, according to a Phoenix Public Transit press release.
The department doesn’t have a timeline for when the refurbishment will be begin, let alone be completed, said spokeswoman Marie Chapel. Designs for the facility still need to be drawn up.
“A lot of times they need to have the ingredients in place before they start,” she said. “There’s usually a whole long preparation process before they even get the ‘dirt drenched’ so to speak.”
The Metro Light Rail will also get $1 million of the grant to conduct a research study for expanding the department’s transit alternatives in the South Central Phoenix corridor on Central Avenue between downtown Phoenix and Baseline Road.
Valley Metro spokeswoman Hilary Foose said the study — or Alternative Analysis — could take almost two years to complete before the department can even lay any tracks to expand transit routes such as the light rail or modern streetcar.
Foose said more funds must be raised or awarded before the department even begins construction.
“There’s not currently any capital funding for us to build anything, but this is the first step of starting the ball of a project,” she said
Foose said Valley Metro is also planning light rail extensions throughout the Valley — including Mesa and the West Valley — as well as a streetcar project in Tempe.
The Public Transit Department is hoping the federal grant will not only benefit the employees at the facility, but will also benefit the Valley with job creation and transportation expansion, Chapel said.
“There’s a number of benefits in having the building refurbished,” Chapel said. “It benefits us to have a good working facility, number one, and then it creates jobs.”
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