CapMetro gearing up for $120M northeast Austin facility
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AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As CapMetro prepares for a new service facility in northeast Austin, the city's transit authority is poised to begin a community engagement process on the project this fall.
CapMetro officials said in an Aug. 15 memo the new facility will encompass approximately 128,000 square feet and will help facilitate maintenance and operations work for CapMetro's Access and Pickup services. The upcoming facility will be the first built by CapMetro since 2008, per the memo.
The 25-acre site at 10805 Cameron Road is being dubbed the North Base Demand Response Facility Project, with an estimated cost of $120 million. Of that sticker price, approximately $20 million of funding will come from a Federal Transit Administration discretionary grant, per the memo.
Officials noted in documents the site is currently surrounded by mostly undeveloped farmland, along with the nearby Pioneer Crossing, Springdale Heights and Harris Branch neighborhoods.
The new facility will house:
- 220 CapMetro Access & Pickup vehicles
- Maintenance bays
- Fueling and service island
- Operations and administrative staff
- Dispatch
- Demand Response customer call center
- Training, conference rooms
- Central warehouse and storage building, to replace CapMetro's current leased space
- Vehicle training course
- Visitor, staff parking
- Provisions for CapMetro's future zero-emissions bus fleet
- New off-site utility connections
- Solar panels for electricity generation
A community engagement period is expected to launch for the project in September. Included stakeholders targeted during the community engagement period include nearby neighborhoods, community members, community-based organization, local government agencies and internal CapMetro staff, per the memo.