Transit users will get the jump on motorists as work nears completion on the Sorensen Station transit terminal and parkade.
The $21.3-million project to put 400 public parking stalls over the existing transit terminal is on budget and almost on time, project manager Darin Sceviour said on Thursday.
City buses return to the terminal on Aug. 1, but the parkade will not be ready for cars until the end of that month, said Sceviour.
Ribbon cutting ceremonies are set for Aug. 28, he said.
Parking co-ordinator Fred Dieno said the parkade, located along 49th Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets, will be open entirely to the public with no assigned stalls.
On the first floor will be 100 stalls where drivers can take advantage of $.75 an hour rates or $6 maximum day rate.
The second and third floors will have 312 stalls open for monthly rates of $80, plus a one-time fee of $20 which includes the access card and the rearview mirror tag.
Construction started last summer on the project, designed by John Murray Architects of Red Deer.
Included in the design is a kiosk on the ground floor’s northwest corner and which will offer beverages, snacks and other convenience items for station users and passersby.
Dieno said the kiosk contract hasn’t been officially decided.
It is slated to be open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week.
Sedum, a hardy succulent that lives on thin soils and needs very little maintenance, has now been planted on the green roofs that were incorporated in the design to reduce the parkade’s impact on the environment. The larger of the two roofs, neither of which is accessible to the public, is shaped like a half cylinder over the top of the parkade and there is another on the ramp.
The green roof serves a number of functions, architect Cory Leniuk said earlier on. The sedum will grow into a carpet of small plants that will capture rain water and solar energy, dramatically reducing the runoff and solar heating that are common with large structures.
It also helps create a more pleasing appearance, said Sceviour. The newly-seeded roof is still brown, but will change colours with the seasons, starting out green when the winter gives way to spring, flowering in summer and then turning burgundy before it browns off during the next winter, he said.
The parkade design includes two elevators and incorporates access for Plus 15s that could create overhead walkways 15 feet above ground to other nearby downtown buildings.
Dieno said one Plus 15 would be accessed from the northeast side of the parkade to the civic centre when it is built on land where the RCMP detachment currently is, to the east of the parkade. If and when the Millenium Centre expands at 49th Avenue, there’s the possibility a Plus 15 could be built from the parkade’s southwest side, Dieno said.
Originally built in 2002, the transit terminal over which the parkade was built was designed to incorporate the larger structure, so those extra-hefty footings were already in place when construction began.
Costs of the project have been spread over four years, starting in 2008, with plans that the structure will pay for itself over time, including income from the fees motorists will pay for parking.
Sorensen Station is named for Gordon Sorensen, a transit pioneer in Red Deer and the surrounding area.
Sorensen started a private transit service in Red Deer in 1957. His business had grown to 14 buses in 1966, when he sold it to the City of Red Deer.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com