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Springfield Public Schools has invested $2.5 million in a larger facility for the Transportation Department. As KSMU’s Anna Thomas reports, the new complex is intended to offer more efficient operations and serve future needs.
SPS buses travel over 9,000 miles a day to transport about 8,000 students to and from school. The department’s headquarters are important to this operation; for maintenance and repairs, training space, and housing their 144 buses and 170 utility vans. That’s a tough fit within the headquarters’ five acre property. Rick Emling, the district’s director of transportation, says the new location has more than three times the acreage.
“It means someplace that will meet our needs today; again, it will meet our needs well into the future. I think it’s a good opportunity for the school district, and I will find efficiencies of scale just because of the new facility having the space I need to do the job the right way every time,” Emling said.
The new facility is located on E. Pythian, close to Highway 65, allowing buses to bypass city traffic. It also has enough space for their 235 employees. Additionally, the service bays for maintenance increase from three to eight.
SPS will be able to close on the property on December 1st. Their move-in date however, is set for summer 2014, after a few renovations are completed.
For KSMU News, I’m Anna Thomas.