Construction of the new operations and maintenance facility for Arlington Transit (ART) bus service has come in on budget and ahead of schedule, Arlington government leaders say.
So a victory lap was in order.
“I won’t stop smiling until I go to sleep tonight,” said Lynn Rivers, the transit bureau chief of the Arlington County government’s Department of Environmental Services.
She was speaking Tuesday (Dec. 10) when local, regional and state leaders converged on the Green Valley community to cut a ceremonial ribbon as the $97 million facility gears up for an official opening in coming days.
Buses currently are stored, and maintenance is undertaken, in multiple locations, including down I-395 in Alexandria. Move-in for staff and vehicles at the Shirlington Road compound is set to start shortly, and will be phased in over coming months.
“This facility sends a huge message about what we in Arlington care about, and the region,” County Board Chairman Libby Garvey said at the ceremony.
“The design? It’s great,” the board chair said.
It probably will be the last ribbon-cutting in Garvey’s 27 years in elected office. But it was the first for Tiffany Robinson, new director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).
“We are excited about the impact of the facility,” Robinson said at the event.
While Robinson only has been in her current role a few weeks, DRPT has been partnering with the Arlington County government since 2017 on the project. State officials contributed $42 million to its cost, with another $45 million coming from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA).
“We have hit the mark where the vision has become the reality,” NVTA CEO Monica Backmon said.
Backmon and many others at the Dec. 10 event also had been on hand during the summer of 2022, when groundbreaking took place.
Nearly everyone who was there remembered the day with a three-letter word: Hot. Pierre Holloman, who as project manager has been as intimately involved as anyone on the site’s effort, joked that he had sweated through seven different shirts that June day.
Arlington Transit began operations in 1998, one of a number of local bus systems across Northern Virginia funded by localities and operated by contractors. It has grown to serve 2.5 million riders a year.
“Transit is actually a community. You connect not only from A to B, but with people,” said County Board Vice Chairman Takis Karantonis. He is a regular ART rider.
Karantonis also praised the residents and leadership of the Green Valley community, which encouraged development of the facility abutting I-395 within its boundaries.
“Not every neighborhood would be comfortable with a facility [like this],” Karantonis said. “This is a gift from the community of Green Valley to Arlington, and the region.”
Portia Clark, president of the Green Valley Civic Association, told ARLnow she was “very happy” with how things had turned out.
The facility will be able to accommodate most but not all the current 82 vehicles in the ART fleet. It is designed both to service the existing fleet, powered by natural gas, and accommodate future buses that will use electric batteries for propulsion.
Opening of the new facility should allow county officials to curtail operations on a parcel along N. Quincy Street near Washington-Liberty High School. Storage of buses there has been a subject of ongoing concern from those living nearby.
The 3.5-acre Green Valley site includes both the three-story operations center and a nearby 125-space parking garage for use by ART employees. The 28 months of construction getting to the ribbon-cutting will continue on a reduced scale into 2025 as the facility is further configured for the arrival of electric buses.
RoseAnn Ashby, a member of the county government’s Transit Advisory Committee, called the seven-bay facility’s opening “a monumental moment” not just for ART, but for its riders.
It marks “an exciting new chapter,” Ashby said.
Designed by Stantec Architecture, the complex was built by Turner Construction and subcontractors. Operational hours are expected to be weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and, with a pared-down schedule on weekends.
