HARRISONBURG, VA (October 7, 2015) – Engineering News Record (ENR) MidAtlantic recently recognized the Harrisonburg Department of Public Transportation’s new transit center with a “2015 Best Project” award in the airports and transit category.
The design-build project was procured through Virginia’s Public-Private Education and Infrastructure Act, which enables innovative public-private partnership (P3) opportunities. Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. of Winchester, in association with RNL Design of McLean, Maintenance Design Group of Baltimore, and Valley Engineering of Harrisonburg comprised the Harrisonburg Transit Center project team.
“We are very proud of this recognition,” said Reggie Smith, director of HDPT. “After nearly 40 years of service, the HDPT space was in need of renovation and repair. This project helped us focus not only on improving the functionality and efficiency of the space, but also on creating a better work environment for our employees, including administration, operations and maintenance staff and all drivers.”
Situated on a shared-use 16-acre site, HDPT’s project called for the replacement of the previous metal building with a 12,678 square foot administration/operations building, a 29,247 square foot maintenance and wash building, a separate fueling facility, and parking for 120 employee vehicles and 117 buses. The on-site garage is a full-service facility that maintains a total of 600 city-owned vehicles.
Sustainability features are widespread. For example, water is recycled for use in the garage’s wash bays and motor oil is recycled to heat the building.
Lighting design strategies have a green bent as well to save on energy usage. In the operations building, a light monitor was designed to bring light deep into the building on both levels through an open stair system. The entire west façade is a ribbon storefront with sunshade system that keeps the building light and airy, but also allows dispatchers, operators, and administration staff to have expansive views of the vehicular operations on site. Light sensors were incorporated so lights turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity. On the maintenance side, the design brings light into the facility through translucent wall panels above overhead doors and clerestory windows at the central spine and forklift aisle of the facility. The building is open and airy with shared functional areas like the welding shop and tire storage centrally located. The light colored roof reflects the sun that serves to minimize the heat-island effect.
Projects in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia were eligible to compete in this regional construction awards program. Independent juries evaluated the projects using five criteria, including safety, innovation and teamwork. As a top category winning project, HDPT will automatically be entered into the national competition and will be judged against the winners from all regions by a jury comprised of construction industry professionals from across the country.
Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. also built the nationally award-winning GRTC Transit System Headquarters Complex in Richmond, Virginia.
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Media contact: Kathy Moore, Moore Public Relations (540-886-3131)