A Busy 2017 at VIA’s Stone Oak Park & Ride

Work on VIA’s Stone Oak Park & Ride reached several construction milestones in summer 2017. The facility will be complete in late 2017 with service beginning in early 2018.

• In early July, the concrete placement on the garage’s top level was completed.

• In late July, construction began on the first-floor lobby and waiting area, and workers installed steel framing for windows, lighting, and telecommunication lines.

• In August, carpenters moved in to start framing the walls in the lobby area. Installation of underground water and sewer lines began, in order to connect the facility to the SAWS water and sewer systems. Once completed, a filter pond will help capture and treat storm water runoff.

VIA Park & Ride service in the Stone Oak area creates new transit options to connect the fast-growing area, including the heavily traveled U.S. Highway 281 corridor. The Texas Department of Transportation is working to expand U.S. Highway 281 North from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway and will include a direct connection ramp to the VIA facility at Stone Oak Parkway and U.S. 281.

Construction starts at Brooks Transit Center

Construction for VIA’s new Brooks Transit Center will begin in late 2017. The facility planned for the intersection of South New Braunfels Avenue and Sidney Brooks Road, will serve eight VIA routes, including a new Primo route along Military Drive to VIA’s Kel-Lac Transit Center.

The new transit center will feature an air-conditioned waiting space, seating, restrooms, next-bus arrival information, ticket vending machines, bicycle racks, parking and public artwork. The site will utilize solar panels and other sustainable development features.

A construction completion date is set for early 2019.

Modern Transit Hub Serves the VIA Region

Centro Plaza at VIA Villa (formerly called the Westside Multimodal Transit Center) is a state-of-the-art transit hub on the near-West Side of San Antonio.

The Plaza opened in December 2015 and serves 1 million passenger trips each year, while it improves accessibility to the city’s Central Business District, UTSA Downtown Campus, and University Health System’s Robert B. Green Campus. The modern Plaza facilitates route transfers, helps alleviate congestion in the Downtown area, and encourages new mixed-use development opportunities. The site features convenient passenger amenities, including an enclosed waiting area, full-service customer information center, plaza-style seating, and well-lit stop and shelter areas.

It utilizes solar energy and features other environmentally friendly features, including a water-capture system beneath its stone pavers. Centro Plaza’s signature feature, Centro Chroma Tower by San Antonio artist Bill Fitzgibbons, was dedicated in April 2016 and stands as a new Downtown landmark and a beacon for travelers.

Military Drive Prímo Project in Progress

Improvements underway for VIA’s S.W. Military Primo route will connect the Kel-Lac Transit Center with the planned Brooks Transit Center. The Military Primo project consists of new Primo bus service along S.E. and S.W. Military Highway from South New Braunfels Avenue to U.S. Highway 90 West.

The work is part of VIA’s South/West Corridor Transit Improvements Project to expand Primo Service along Zarzamora and Military Primo corridors and will allow VIA to provide faster, more reliable service.

Plans call for construction of 20 new stops along the route that will feature Next-Gen lighted shelters with seating; free 4G LTE WiFi service, a digital screen with next bus arrival information, and a security camera system. The project includes various sidewalk improvements to provide safe and convenient pedestrian crossings along the corridor.

Work will begin in late 2017 and take approximately 13 months to complete.

Bus shelters among VIA’s improved amenities

VIA is adding 1,000 sheltered bus stops to provide customers a comfortable and weather-protected waiting area.

VIA provides bus service for more than 40 million trips each year within a 1,226-square-mile service area. In October, VIA installed more than 300 shelters. A program goal of 1,000 new shelters citywide was set in mid-2014. Another 150 sites are under construction and more are in production. Streamlined and modern, the new bus shelters provide comfortable, covered seating, additional lighting, and route information displays with real-time bus arrivals to make travel safer and easier to make your next connection. Flexible modular concepts will serve differing capacity needs tailored to each bus stop and are designed to respect the historic or cultural fabric of area parks, neighborhoods, places of interest and historic sites. VIA is working to make your travel experience the best it can be.

As we make additional progress, we will continue to bring you news about this and other SmartMove projects.