Bus station plans keep rider in mind

Designs are complete for the $2.5 million renovation and expansion of the historic Wabash Station bus depot at Tenth and Ash streets. The plans, in the works since 1999, were released last week.

In addition to sprucing up the old railroad station, the designs feature a new building with office space that will be connected to the old structure by an indoor waiting area.

Plans also call for a covered outdoor waiting area immediately behind the old building, a canopied walkway 202 feet long that would extend eastward from the rear of the building to provide sheltered access to buses and a concrete wheelchair ramp that will replace a wooden one.

Kristen Parkins, 28, rides the bus home three or four times a week from her job at the Holiday Inn. She said Wednesday that plans for the project look good.

“The main problem is waiting outside with no cover whatsoever,” Parkins said. “It’ll be very nice, especially when it’s very hot or cold outside.”

Wabash Station, nearly 100 years old, was originally a train depot until 1964. Thirteen years later, the city bought the Wabash property and converted it into the hub for its bus system.

Because Wabash is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the city is required to preserve the building’s historical significance. Public Transportation Manager Ken Koopmans said the designs by ThreeSixty Architecture of Kansas City maintain the building’s character.

“We’re working very closely with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and they approved everything,” he said.

It is important to the DNR’s Historic Preservation Office that any additions to the building are distinct from the old one, Koopmans said. Designers want to make it obvious that there is a distinction between the new structures and the original Wabash. To that end, the additions will have metal roofs as opposed to the existing building’s leaky tile roof, which will be removed, repaired and replaced. Also, the walls will not be authentic limestone like those of the original.

The designs further maintain the historical significance by keeping the same ticket windows and the high-arching beam inside the station, Koopmans said.

The most obvious problem with the depot is the deteriorating exterior limestone, which will be coated with a chemical to prevent further erosion.

When the project is complete, the focus of the historic portion of the building will be on passengers. It will include waiting areas, a customer service desk, vending machines and new restrooms. The one public unisex restroom will be converted into two large, accessible restrooms.

Bus rider Jasmine Paige, 19, said she thinks that the improvements should be made but that they shouldn’t stop with just renovating the building.

“If there’s a nicer station, more people will want to ride the bus, but time needs to improve, too,” she said. “I’d rather have more buses than fix the building.”

Another aspect of the project is to improve the flow of buses in and out of the station. City officials hope to acquire additional property along Orr Street so that buses can enter from North Tenth Street. Northbound buses would then exit onto Orr or Park Avenue, while southbound buses would use a South Tenth Street exit.

The estimated construction cost of the project is just more than $2.5 million, 80 percent of which will come from a Federal Transit Administration grant.

Detailed construction plans will be prepared by ThreeSixty Architecture in the coming months. Bidding for the construction job is set for June.