City Breaks Ground On New Lextran Facility

The new facility will sit on a nearly 14-acre site at 200 West Loudon Avenue and will house Lextran’s 187 employees, 72 buses and maintenance facilities, Lextran said during the morning press conference. The property used to be the site of the GE Lighting Kentucky Glass Plant and was vacant for the past four years.

It will improve operational efficiencies by consolidating all operations and maintenance functions at one location, Lextran General Manager Rocky Burke said.

“Having administrative, operations and maintenance staff at the same locations will enhance communication, collaboration and coordination between all departments and staff,” Burke said. “The ultimate result is better, more efficient and cost-effective service.”

According to the official plan, there will be 54,000 square feet of buildings. That will include an administrative building with space for community meetings, maintenance facilities, fueling stations and bus wash area.

Lextran said the state-of-the-art maintenance facility will improve maintenance and achieve improved reliability of the bus fleet operations by having seven maintenance bays. The current facility at 109 West Loudon Avenue has only two maintenance bays.

Lextran officials said the new facility will be equipped with a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station to accommodate the transition to CNG-powered buses.

In addition to reducing operating costs through LEED certification, the new facilities will save Lextran more than $38,000 per year in rent expenses, Lextran said.

Lextran has been successful in securing and leveraging federal grants and tax credits, which reduces the total local portion of the project to about 25 percent.