Seismic upgrades, renovations and improved facilities are all part of projects going on at the Victoria and Langford transit maintenance centres.
A total of $10.9 million is being spent at the Victoria facility on Gorge Road East and the Langford facility on Henry Eng Place, with the Langford venture due to be finished this month.
Funding comes from three sources, said B.C. Transit spokesman Jonathon Dyck.
“It’s 50 per cent from the federal government, 33 per cent from the province and 17 per cent for the local government, or in this case the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.”
The money is part of almost $160 million for transit projects in B.C., announced in June 2016.
The Langford project includes a new 4,000-square-foot warehouse that will house a centralized stock room and provincial-distribution site to serve transit systems around B.C. “In terms of the provincial-storage facility in Langford, construction on the new building is going well,” Dyck said. “We expect that to be completed in the near future.” Bus parts and other supplies will be stored in the facility, he said.
Construction at the Langford centre started in February, while work in Victoria began in April and is scheduled to continue until March 2018.
The Victoria centre will end up with a new paint and body shop. Victoria’s is among the busiest transit body shops in B.C., with about 1,200 projects each year.
“The demolition work at the Victoria transit centre has been completed and now we’re working on the construction process for the new building,” Dyck said.
Seismic work is an important part of the projects, he said.
“These improvements are important for improving safety on all our sites,” Dyck said. “Safety is a top priority of B.C. Transit’s, so we’re looking forward to this work and getting it complete.”
Following the shop portion of the Victoria project, renovations will be done to the administrative area of the centre. It will take up less than 10 per cent of the overall budget.
Dyck said efforts have been made to ensure the local transit system’s 280 buses are rolling, despite the work. “We’ve been working on the operational planning to keep everything going,” he said.
B.C. Transit is continuing to work with the City of Victoria on reissuing a tender for a new stretch of dedicated bus lanes on Douglas Street.
The initiative for a southbound bus lane from Tolmie Avenue to Hillside Avenue was put on hold in June after bids for the work came in too high.
The lowest bid was about 30 per cent over budget.
The cost has been estimated at $2.1 million.
