McAllen bus terminal completes $1.7 million renovation

McAllen bus terminal completes $1.7 million renovation

The Monitor

December 06, 2009 7:44 PM

Nick Pipitone

McALLEN — McAllen’s Central Station is in the final stages of a $1.7 million renovation that Transit Director Elizabeth Suarez said will ease traffic congestion that often tied up city buses and cars along 15th Street.

Central Station — which averages 60 bus departures per day — moved its bus loading and unloading area from along 15th Street to a new drop-off location behind the station on Austin Street.

The drop-off location is separated by a gate and divided into two lanes for McAllen Express Transit (MET) bus traffic and passenger vehicle traffic.

Previously, city buses and cars mingled along 15th Street, sometimes backing onto Business 83, Suarez said. This new drop-off point will alleviate much of that traffic, she said, and will allow friends and family to drop off bus patrons to an area covered by new canopies.

“It’s protection for the weather and, for us down here, protection from the sun,” Suarez said. “The idea is if you’re waiting for your ride at 7:30 at night, you also have a safe place to sit.”

Traffic at the new drop-off point on Austin Street will be able to exit westbound onto 16th Street and circle the building if necessary. Before, that wasn’t an option.

Austin is a one-way street directed eastbound and, previously, taxi cabs lined the street behind the station. They would often merge at the intersection with city buses and passenger vehicles.

“Before, it was a bottleneck,” Suarez said. “It was a nightmare.”

Now, taxis line up along 15th Street and are generally out of the way of bus traffic.

“This renovation helps us,” Suarez said. “It was an expansion that was very eagerly anticipated.”

The city transit department began the renovations in January. The project came under budget — it was slated for $2.2 million — and 80 percent of the cost was reimbursed through a Federal Transit Administration grant.

The city is still putting the final touches on the renovation but decided to open up the new drop-off area last week because of the inclement weather.

Central Station has been a boon for the city’s downtown shopping district since opening in 2001 and averages about 3 million visitors per year. The station provides room for 14 private bus companies, in addition to MET buses and Rio Transit, the small Hidalgo County rural transportation system.

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