Assessment, Design and Construction Administration for PVTA Additions
Weston & Sampson was commissioned by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the existing Northampton Operations and Maintenance Facility, and to prepare designs and provide construction administration for modifications and addition to the administration and employee facility portion of the facility.
The PVTA is the largest regional transit authority in Massachusetts with 174 buses, 144 vans, and 24 participating member communities. PVTA’s service area includes Greater Springfield, Holyoke, and Northampton. The Authority also provides bus service to the UMass Amherst campus. In the future PVTA will provide “feeder” to the planned high-speed rail service along the Connecticut River corridor, connecting at stations in Springfield, Northampton and Holyoke. PVTA is also developing plans to provide transit services for a new casino that will be located in either Palmer or Springfield.
PVTA currently operates a number of fixed route bus lines out of the Northampton Operations Center, a facility constructed in the mid-1980s. During the past three decades, many of the systems in the facility have begun to reach the end of their useful lives, and the number, size, and type of vehicles based at this facility have changed.
Weston & Sampson completed a physical conditions assessment of the current facility and worked with the Authority to develop a facility capital upgrade plan. Weston & Sampson was also commissioned to design and oversee construction for a ± $1.1M upgrade and expansion of all administration and employee facility areas. Subsequently, Weston & Sampson completed a preliminary planning study that considered the potential for expansion of the bus storage and maintenance areas by enlargement of the building into a portion of an adjacent parcel.