City of Ashland breaks ground on new transit headquarters
The City of Ashland, Ohio, has broken ground on its new Ashland Public Transit headquarters. Located on the corner of Union and Third streets, the new building is set to be 14,500 square feet. This facility will accommodate the administrative, operational, training, vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage needs, housing the agency’s growing fleet of 10 vehicles, keeping them out of the elements and in a secure environment.
“This facility has been a long time coming and is incredibly important for the future of transit in Ashland—not only the city, but the county. We go up to 100 drive miles away,” said Ashland Public Transit Coordinator Liz McClurg at a groundbreaking event, according to the Ashland Source. “The big benefit of this facility is it’s going to extend the life of our vehicles, and it’s going to give us a safe and reliable place to operate from. This will increase our growth and our longevity and set us up for a very successful future in transit.”
The city notes 12,000 square feet of the total building footprint will be reserved for vehicle storage and maintenance, with the rest being saved for office and administrative space. Further, once the transit hub is complete, the city’s GoBus connection stop will relocate to the new headquarters.
“When people see us embarking on a project like this—incidentally this is a $2.5 million dollar project—people start asking ‘Why are we spending all that money on that?'” said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller at the event.
Miller continued, sharing that the agency delivered more than 32,000 rides, totaling just shy of 140,000 miles in the city.
“That’s pretty incredible and that tells you that there is a demand for our service, and that’s why we are doing our best to continue to grow the Ashland Public Transit,” Mayor Miller added.
The cost of the project will be almost entirely covered through federal and state grants, costing just above an approximate $2.5 million. The facility’s construction is being conducted by Simonson Construction Services, Inc. and is estimated to open in June 2027.
About the Author
Noah Kolenda
Associate Editor
Noah Kolenda is a recent graduate from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree in health and science reporting. Kolenda also specialized in data journalism, harnessing the power of Open Data projects to cover green transportation in major U.S. cities. Currently, he is an associate editor for Mass Transit magazine, where he aims to fuse his skills in data reporting with his experience covering national policymaking and political money to deliver engaging, future-focused transit content.
Prior to his position with Mass Transit, Kolenda interned with multiple Washington, D.C.-based publications, where he delivered data-driven reporting on once-in-a-generation political moments, runaway corporate lobbying spending and unnoticed election records.