GRTC Transit System Facility Named Project of the Year
November 8, 2010
 (Harrisburg, Pa.) Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine named the GRTC Transit System Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility as Project of the Year in the Industrial Category in its Best of 2010 awards competition. Gannett Fleming, an international planning, design, and construction management firm, served as the prime consultant for design and construction management on this award-winning project.
By combining functionality with sustainable design, Gannett Fleming assisted GRTC Transit System in achieving more efficient daily operations of its fleet in its new, state-of-the-art, cost-effective, and green facility. The recently completed $37 million bus operations and maintenance complex, located on Belt Boulevard in Richmond, Va., is a fully functional facility that services a fleet of approximately 188 buses (standard 40-foot buses, future articulated buses, and over-the-road buses), para-transit vehicles, and vans, which serve the greater Richmond area.
The facility is the first public building in Richmond to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver Level Certification. By incorporating green components into the facility, Gannett Fleming has helped GRTC Transit System to decrease operating costs and reduce its carbon footprint.
GRTC Transit System is the oldest mass transportation system in the U.S., currently celebrating its 150th anniversary. For more than 100 years, it maintained its operations out of its old Cary Street facilities. Moving into the 21st century, it became evident that these old facilities on Cary Street could no longer support the GRTC Transit System fleet, lacking the optimal infrastructure, configuration, building systems, and operational equipment required for efficient daily operations.
The new building on Belt Boulevard houses 560 employees working in operations, maintenance, and administration. The 12-acre site accommodates outdoor bus storage, a three-story 26,600-square-foot Administration Building for all GRTC Transit System operations, and an adjacent two-story 100,600-square-foot Maintenance Building, requiring two separate building permits. The Maintenance Building includes fueling lanes, automatic bus washers, maintenance bays for bus inspections, trouble work, light and heavy maintenance, and a body shop complete with a downdraft paint booth to accommodate articulated buses.
Mid-Atlantic Construction’s annual competition recognizes construction and design excellence in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. An independent jury of industry experts judged approximately 100 nominated projects in 20 separate categories. The project will be featured along with the other winners in an upcoming issue of Mid-Atlantic Construction and will be honored on Dec. 10, 2010, at an event in Baltimore, Md.
For more information, please contact Judy L. Hricak, CPSM at (717) 763-7211, ext. 2624 or via e-mail.
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