AppalCART awarded $6 million

for constructionon service terminal
By Scott Nicholson
 
With dirt moving on the new AppalCART facility, the local public transportation system has secured federal funding for the $6 million construction.

The project, which will construct a new main service terminal on the N.C. 05 Bypass near Boone, was announced among other state projects that will be included in transportation spending as part of the federal stimulus package.

“We have applied for a stimulus grant and the state has acknowledged our grant for the facility,” said AppalCART director Chris Turner.

The grant will cover $5.5 million for the new terminal and an additional $500,000 to pay for shelters at stops.
They were two of 140 transit projects across the state that will receive more than $103 million in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We have not gotten that money yet, but we’re not suspecting there will be any problem,” Turner said. “We hope to get the money later this summer, but we’ve actually started some grading with money that we’ve been saving.”

Turner expects to move into the facility in July 2010, with a few additions planned that weren’t included in the original bid, but Turner believes the cost to come in close to the $6 million total.

There will be no operational changes this year because of the construction, with AppalCART remaining based out of the current facility on Winkler's Creek Road near the Boone Mall. However, road widenings and Appalachian State University construction could affect route times on the Green and Orange routes.

"We're actually planning on adding another bus on the Orange route because of frequency of service and the work on U.S. 421," Turner said.

When AppalCART begins operating out of the new facility, there could be more route alterations, though Turner hopes any changes will be "fairly minor," adjusting some of the routes next year to prepare for the additional stop at the main facility.

The new facility will have six bays for repairing vehicles and more parking, as well as space to warm the buses in winter for faster starts. "The only challenge we'll have there that we don't have here is a steeper grade coming out of the new facility," Turner said. "We also have more traffic coming out on the bypass than we do Winkler's Creek Road. We'll have four or five acres to work with instead of one and half."

The facility will sport "green" features, including captured rainwater from a portion of the shop roof to use for wash water and toilets, with solar water heating and some solar electric panels to conserve energy. The building is designed to take advantage of passive solar energy through strategic placement of windows.

The grants will benefit both urban and rural transportation. Twenty-one urban transit systems will receive more than $70 million for 77 projects. The largest allocation, at $20.8 million, will go to Charlotte Area Transit System’s North Davidson Street bus facility.

Projects in rural areas across the state totaled more than $33 million. Three projects benefit transit efforts statewide, and 63 are designated for rural transit systems/areas of the state. These projects are expected to create or retain more than 3,200 jobs.

NCDOT received a total of $838 million through the stimulus plan, including $735 million for highway and bridge projects. To date, NCDOT has allocated more than 90 percent of the highway and bridge money received to projects across the state, including improvements to East King Street/U.S. 421 in Boone.