- Tallahassee leaders voted to accept $1,000,000 in grant money to help build the Southside Transit Center.
- The center is planned for the corner of Meridian Street and Orange Avenue.
- Watch the video to hear from one neighbor who has been waiting for the project to get started.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"Once you get on Orange Avenue traffic picks up. Everyone is coming through, and you get quite a bit of traffic through there."
What you're looking at may seem like an empty lot with a few trees and dirt, but imagine if it turns out to be something that could improve transportation for south side neighbors. It's called the Southside Transit Center located on the corner of Meridian Street and Orange Avenue.
The high-tech, multi-modal project is designed to improve mobility, provide direct transit services, and reduce wait times for those living here. "It would give them an opportunity to set a positive schedule and manage time a whole lot better." Willie Wiggins is one of those neighbors who works here. He owns Signature Lounge in Southwest Tallahassee.
He tells me, "it's a lot of traffic on the south side It's a lot of traffic on the south side. This street, Orange Avenue, stays busy." While commuting to his job for over the years, it isn't hard for him to imagine the new project coming to fruition. "I'm real excited. It will bring more people to see what the south side is all about. Also, it's a good community."
Recently, city leaders voted to approve a $1,000,000 state-funded grant agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation. I followed up on that vote with Commissioner Curtis Richardson.
I asked him, "is the Southside Transit Center on budget to be done in a timely manner?"
Richardson responded, "Oh, it is! It's a $16 million project. We got money from several different sources, Blueprint, Federal Government, and of course the million-dollar state grant that we approved at the recent city commission meeting."
It's a project that Wiggins can imagine will be ready to roll forward in the future. "I think the bus transit station is going to be state of the art and it's going to be a beautiful thing on that corner."
