The Bloomington Transit center, which will also house Monroe County dispatch operations, is nearly complete. Staff photo by Jeremy Hogan
It won’t be long before Bloomington Transit moves into its new downtown home.
The final slabs of concrete are being poured next week around the edges of the two-story, 10,000-square-foot building that will house the emergency dispatch and downtown transit centers.
The transit center alone is expected to cost more than $9 million, but local officials say the facility is a major upgrade and will serve the community for the next 40 or 50 years. Bloomington Transit General Manager Lew May said transit officials have known for years that an expansion was needed because of an increase in ridership and bigger buses, and the new facility allows for additional growth.
“I think you’re going to see this as one of the best,” May said. “This is sort of a unique landmark.”
A long time in the making
The current bus transit center at Fourth and Washington streets was built in 1987, when ridership averaged between 500,000 and 700,000 annually, according to May. Now, ridership is hitting 3.5 million every year.
“We’ve grown like five- or six-fold,” May said.
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