Pace Construction

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

assuming Bridgeview (Southwest) isn't large enough to handle that.

The assumption isn't that, but that something like 877, 888, and 895 would come back. Only thing that might be in play is a proposal to connect I-294 to Route 855 at Burr Ridge.

[renardo870]

Ladies and Gentlemen,  Plainfield is open for business!!

[Busjack]

Pace Planning and Infrastructure Meeting ended up all over the place, but there were incidental mentions about the River and Wheeling garages, including that River would be expanded and initially would be part electric and part diesel. The main issue is money, and Metzger mentioned that a 135 bus garage (which would be Wheeling's size) might be something like $400 million (as opposed to what I believe was about $65 million for a CNG garage), and provisions for electrification are being made in the South Campus construction.

[Busjack]

On the Project Zero page, Pace noted:

A new Northwest Division facility in Wheeling is being retrofitted to become a CNG fueling station. More than 100 low-emission buses will be operated from this garage by 2023

...

...the agency has also acquired land in Wheeling to replace its current Northwest Division, which will feature exclusive CNG technology among 115 new vehicles. ...

Nonetheless, Pace recognizes that both diesel and CNG are fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gas emissions. Moving forward, Pace will curtail new spending on diesel vehicles. Similarly, Pace will limit expansion of CNG technology to the current South and forthcoming Northwest Division operations.

So, it appears that despite a disappearance, the Wheeling Garage is back on. Unless work has been going on behind the scenes, it isn't going to be "by 2023," and some time in 2023 seems pretty aggressive. But this was taken from Driving Innovation; the Transition Plan says 2026-2027 for the 47 buses originally mentioned when the Board authorized the contract.

 

[Busjack]

Aftermath of construction: agenda item to transfer the Joliet garage property to Will County.

UPDATE: FTA notice that Will County intends to use the property as a SWAT facility.

[Busjack]

Discussion here about architectural services for the River Division expansion to take electrification into account, with construction projected to start in 2026 and be completed in 2028.

[Busjack]

Markham campus completed according to JB. Pace site

[Busjack]

At the Sept. Advisory Board Meeting, the question was raised whether the Wheeling garage construction was suspended, and the answer was yes, for the suspected reason that it was originally supposed to be CNG and they now don't know whether to electrify it. The question was also raised whether this means more maintenance (such as a new roof) at Des Plaines, for which the answer was also yes. But the presenter also repeated "I'm not the expert on this."

At the prior board meeting and here they said the South Campus office building was completed, but the   acceptance center was not, so Pace will be in South Holland for several more months. Metzger said at the board meeting that a training track was also complete there.

[Busjack]

At  the Jan. 2025 Board meeting,  it was mentioned, in connection with the agenda item to extend the lease on East Dundee for 2 years that they probably won't have the Elgin garage expansion completed until 2029.

The NWTC expansion should be completed this May.

[Busjack]

Finally, some action on the Wheeling garage, as reflected starting here in the October Board Meeting video. The current plan is to demolish the existing Allstate building on the property (instead of converting it), and build a new, smaller building, still with room for 150 buses. with the demolition contract to be awarded fairly soon, and construction in 2026 or 2027. This is supposed to reduce the cost from $378 M to $104 M, and accomodate future expansion and changing technology, from hybrid to BEB. CNG was canceled with the demise of ENC, and fuel cell is apparently now off the table.

[Busjack]

As promised: Pace Northwest Division Wheeling Building Demolition.