ROANOKE, Va. – On Thursday night, we got our first look at the plans for the temporary bus station in downtown Roanoke.
This is all part of the bigger picture plan to relocate the bus station from Campbell Court to in front of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, and replace Campbell Court with a new mixed use development.
Poster boards were up Thursday night at a public open house to show a glimpse of the future to come. Valley Metro general manager Kevin Price said public input is the cornerstone of the project.
“We needed to know from passengers to neighborhood associations, just the general public what they think about it, what they would like to see in their city,” Price said.
The old bus station will come down and a new one will go up in the parking lot across from the museum. A few dozen people came out, such as Stephen Grammer, to share their feedback.
“I am an advocate for the disabled and am on the transportation advisory committee for Valley Metro. I like to see that they included ADA in this project but my concern is with the funding,” Grammer said.
A few weeks ago, we got a first look at the final design of the permanent station, but now for the first time they’ve released new drawings that show how a temporary station will open, and then the permanent station will be built at the same time.
Architect Nathan Harper said the materials will match the neighborhood.
“We’re really trying to make sure that the design of the building is compatible with this part of downtown. And we’re really trying to build a solution here that’s not a five year solution, it’s a fifty year solution,” Harper said.
But neighbors in the immediate area, like investor Bill Chapman, are still against the project in their backyard no matter what it looks like.
Price said the location is set and construction should begin in about a year.
“We want to make sure that we are a good neighbor. Transit is very important to this location, to this city, and so whatever we build we need the input and some buy in from the neighbors,” Price said.