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Bus Station Grand Opening Set Tuesday

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By BOB FRYER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - When the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority holds a grand opening Tuesday for its new Northwest Transfer Center, public bus riders will have cause to celebrate.

So, too, will hikers and bicycle riders, as the new center represents one step closer to the goal of improving alternative transportation by connecting the Town 'N Country Greenway to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.

Delayed by relocation of a sewer line and a pocket of muck that had to be filled in, the $3.36 million project originally was set to open in June, but will quietly open on Sunday. On Tuesday, community leaders and HART officials will gather at 10:30 a.m. for the grand opening ceremony, with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita as guest speakers.

The new center, located near Waters Avenue and Sheldon Road on an 8.4-acre tract, will offer eight docking stations for buses and large shelters around a central building. There will be a 93-space park-and-ride lot, restrooms, drinking fountains and a ticket-vending machine.

The facility is across the street from the Northwest Hillsborough Family YMCA. A new stoplight there - on Waters a little west of Sheldon - will allow easy passage from the transfer center to the YMCA. That traffic signal removes one of two safety hazards for hikers and bicycle riders trying to make a connection between the Town 'N Country Greenway to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, said Rob Gamester, a member of the Town 'N Country Community Plan working committee.

He explains that the 2-mile long greenway, running east-west along a canal from George to Sheldon roads, offers no safe passage across Sheldon so pedestrians and bicyclists can continue along Sheldon to the YMCA, transfer center and Upper Tampa Bay Trail. That is the second safety hazard and will be remedied when the county installs traffic signals for a pedestrian crosswalk on Sheldon at the west end of the greenway.
Traffic signals for the crossing should be installed within 60 days, said Ben Kniesly, project manager in the county public works department. A "hot button" will be installed to immediately grant pedestrians the right-of-way. Median and curb modifications at the crossing site have been completed, he said, and bike lanes along Sheldon have been completed.

"This does a lot for connectivity," Kniesly said of the new crossing.

When the greenway and trail are better connected, it just offers that much more ease for bicyclists to get around the many parts of northwest Hillsborough, and to expand those options by riding bikes to the transfer center, then taking a bus to their destination.
Gamester says the transfer center, its traffic light and the pedestrian crossing on Sheldon all work to further two of the community plan's 10 goals. "Goal 4 is to relieve traffic congestion and improve transit. Goal 5 is to improve sidewalk, bicycle lane and trail connectivity," he said.

"Having the YMCA, transfer center and the trail all together offers a hub for alternative transportation. ... This idea was formed when gas was $1.28 a gallon," he said. With gas prices around $4 a gallon, he said this hub is even more critical to serving the needs of the community.

"You'd be surprised at how many people use these trails to get somewhere. You can use the trail to get from Town 'N Country to Citrus Park mall," Gamester said.
Bus riders will find the new transfer center a vast improvement over the "transfer center" that has existed for 11 years at Hanley Road and Waters Avenue, in front of the now-defunct U-Save, where only one shelter and a few benches were offered.

Also, HART was using that facility with a handshake agreement that called for the agency to vacate in 30 days if the owners asked them to leave.

The new center was acquired from the county for free on the condition that if HART were to cease operation on the property, the land goes back to the county.

Reporter Bob Fryer can be reached at (813) 865-1510 or bfryer@tampatrib.com.

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