City officials and Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) staff and passengers will come together on Aug. 17, to celebrate five years in the John J Duncan, Jr Knoxville Station Transit Center – the city’s first LEED certified government building. The celebration at Knoxville Station begins at 1:30 p.m. with brief remarks by Mayor Rogero and the city’s Director of Transit Dawn Distler. An official birthday cake will be cut to mark the occasion.
“While a five-year old facility might not seem like something worth celebrating, this investment has had a huge impact on thousands of people every day,” Distler said. “When you think of what those thousands of daily downtown transfers were like before the station, you can understand the massive difference this facility has made.”
Since its opening, the center has won numerous awards for architecture and design and the building has been featured in various tours on sustainability. But perhaps the most telling indication of success is that KAT ridership and station usage has gone up every single year, practically every single month, since Knoxville Station opened its doors.
“That continuous ridership increase tells us that transit can be successful and continue to grow in a city when you provide quality service and great facilities,” says Distler.
