Westmoreland transit garage construction costs $3 million under budget

Westmoreland County Transit Authority board members this week awarded more than $7.4 million in contracts to build a new bus storage facility in Hempfield.

Officials said the price tag for the project came in more than $3 million below estimates.

“We were planning for a higher number,” said Authority Executive Director Alan Blahovec.

Authority board members earlier this year signed off on what was then expected to be a $10.5 million project to build a 16,000 square foot facility to store up to 20 buses on property along Route 66 in Hempfield that currently houses the transit agency’s maintenance complex.

The authority on Thursday awarded a $5.1 million contract to RA Glancy & Sons of Gibsonia to provide the general construction for the new facility. The company submitted the lowest bid among 10 proposals received by the authority.

Hranec Mechanical Contractors in Uniontown, the lowest of three bidders, will be paid $930,000 to install heating, venting and air conditioning at the site.

The authority also hired Merit Electrical Group of Oakmont for $766,000 and East End Plumbing of Richland Township for $590,000 to round out the construction project.

Board members also approved a $12,000 year-long lease to rent property in Hempfield where they will store buses during the construction project.

The new storage garage will be built on portion of the authority’s 10-acre maintenance facility that previously housed an older building that was demolished in 2019. The existing garage, opened in 2012, has work bays and washing facilities but is not large enough to store the authority’s fleet of 41 buses.

Blahovec said construction of the new storage facility could begin later this spring and is expected to take about a year.