Wheels are turning at a new transportation hub for Naperville School District 203.
New brick-and-mortar facility
Once complete, the facility behind Naperville North High School will include parking, a new garage, offices and space for bus drivers to rest, work and socialize.
“What was here before was a double-wide, double-wide trailer,” said Cindy LaBorn, director of transportation for District 203. “So we had two trailers together, a little foyer, and then another two trailers for the drivers to sit in. So this upgrade is going to be like a brick-and-mortar building that drivers are going to be able to come to before, after, and during midday, and office staff is coming into offices that are almost true offices instead of what we had before.”
The parking lots on the east and west sides of the property are finished, and progress is well underway on the garage and office building.
“Right now we’ve got the shell of the building up. We just poured the slab on grade in the office. Roof work is ongoing, and we’re working on a bunch of the mechanical equipment inside, plumbing and electric, getting all those things ready,” said Frank Fatigato, superintendent for Pepper Construction.
Including features for energy efficiency
The $18.5 million facility will include some energy-efficient features as part of the district’s carbon action plan.
“This project has a lot of new, innovative technologies in it, with solar panels on the roof and geothermal wells for some of the heating and cooling,” Fatigato said.
Nine electric bus chargers have also been installed in the bus parking lot, with infrastructure in place to add chargers as the fleet grows.
The district currently has four electric buses, with five more on the way.
On track to finish mid-December
Preliminary work began on the site in March, and construction began in May.
Despite some obstacles with stormy weather this year, the hub is on track to be completed before Christmas.
“We are going to open the bus garage up sooner, so we can move everything out of the existing garage, all the tools and equipment into the new one, and then we will demolish the old building,” Fatigato said.
Improved space for bus drivers, transportation staff
LaBorn, who worked out of the trailer offices before, is looking forward to moving into the new space.
“Having a newer facility is a huge improvement for the bus drivers and for the staff at transportation, so having a place where they can come in, they can relax, they can socialize with others if they wanted to, would be a huge improvement over what we had before,” LaBorn said.
“I am really excited about the progress. I’m excited to be able to move into a new space prior to Christmas, prior to break, and just be able to have a home that we can go to every day,” LaBorn said.
Image courtesy: Naperville School District 203
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