The Springfield Mass Transit District is moving forward with an estimated $12 million project to build a new transfer hub to replace the existing Junction Circle Transfer Point.
The SMTD Board of Trustees approved a $1 million purchase of property Sept. 30 that would allow for construction of a new transfer center.
The Junction Circle Transfer Point, built in 2019, is located between South MacArthur Boulevard and West Stanford Avenue in a low traffic area on Junction Circle.
Steve Schoeffel, executive director of SMTD, said the land entails 25 acres near the current site, but declined to provide the location since the purchase hasn’t been finalized.
“As soon as we close on the property, then it’ll be known publicly and we’ll talk to all the neighbors and make sure everyone knows exactly what’s going on,” he said.
Schoeffel said the land for the new transfer center was appraised for $2.4 million and the landowner agreed to make an in-kind donation of $905,000.
“We’re (SMTD) covering $1.5 million through grants and local funding,” he told IT.
Schoeffel estimates the total cost for the project at around $12-13 million. SMTD was previously awarded $6 million in construction funds from the Illinois Department of Transportation for the project and plans to apply for an additional $7 million in IDOT funding.
“With inflation and now having to put in an access road, costs are higher,” SMTD grants manager Hadley Markiewicz said during the board meeting.
She said SMTD plans to spend $750,000 of its funds on the project but won’t have to issue bonds to cover the cost.
The current Junction Circle Transfer Point entails three separate bus stops with two of them containing a pair of bus shelters and another with one bus shelter. A bus parking lane allows the buses to stay parked without disrupting the flow of traffic.
The bus stops border farm land, and across the street to the north is an open field.
The new transfer point will feature outdoor shelters and inside break areas for drivers. An access road will be built to connect the facility to the main street.
“We move a lot of passengers through that transfer point, so it makes sense for us to build a more permanent facility,” Schoeffel told Illinois Times.
The new layout will entail buses entering into a facility park.
“So, it’s safer,” Schoeffel said.
The bus lines that transfer at Junction Circle run further south and west and are relied upon by workers and students going back and forth from the University of Illinois Springfield campus to apartments south of Wabash Avenue, he said.
He said the ridership numbers are steady.
When Illinois Times asked whether there were concerns about sprawl, developing in a location that doesn’t lie in a dense area, he said there were none.
“That area is going to develop really quickly now that the SCHEELS Sports complex is developing,” he said.
The SCHEELS Sports Park at Legacy Pointe is about a mile away from the Junction Circle Transfer Point.
Additional hotels and retail are planned for the area around the complex that will increase demand for transportation to get to those jobs, he said.
“That’s a lot of what we do, is take people to work,” he said. “So, for us to have a good facility for them and better protect them from the weather, I think it is an important step for us to take,” he said.
