Published: June 30, 2009 11:05 am      

Park and ride spot in Jeffersonville nearing completion

Old sewer plant property being converted to TARC stop

A project to convert the old city sewer plant property on the north side of Ninth Street into a TARC park-and-ride lot should be finished by July 15.

Marvin Jenkins, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said an inspection of the lot recently wrapped up. Almost everything with the lot is complete, he said; only a few street lights need to be installed.

The lot will have about 30 parking spaces and will be a place where residents can park their vehicles and catch a TARC, or Transit Authority of River City, bus.

The project entailed demolition and cleanup of a few structures that were there, and paving work. New Albany-based Mac Construction was the contractor.

The conversion has been a long-term project first discussed by city officials in 2000. The area had been used as a sewer plant until the mid 1990s, city officials said.

No local tax dollars are being used, as federal funds earmarked for air quality improvement and administered by the state are being utilized. It will cost about $1.36 million, Jenkins said.

TARC has not yet added a bus stop at the lot, said Nina Walfoort, the agency’s director of marketing. However, she said, it will do so once it receives conformation from the city that the lot is ready for use.

It likely will be added to bus schedules in August, when the agency typically revises its schedules. TARC has about 25 official park-and-ride lots throughout the Louisville metropolitan area.

TARC had a busy year in 2008 because gas prices peaked at about $4 per gallon, Walfoort said. Ridership has dropped by about 5 percent since then, she said.

There are now three TARC routes between Louisville and Southern Indiana. The agency added a new express route between downtown Louisville and New Albany’s Charlestown Road area last month.