Jefferson Parish unveils $8.9M East Bank transit operations center. Take a look inside. (2024)

Jefferson Parish officials on Thursday unveiled a new transportation operations facility on the East Bank, an $8.9 million federally funded project that also included renovations to the bus maintenance building.

The new facility, a 15,000-square foot, two-story building at 118 David Dr. in Metairie, is the first dedicated transit building on the East Bank, the parish's transit director Ninette Barrios said. It is not open to the public and is designed to be be used by Jefferson Parish Transit employees.

The previous facility was an old one-story building that formerly housed the now-defunct parish mosquito department, Barrios said. It was “falling apart” with major maintenance and plumbing issues and was too small to comfortably fit the 100 operators who use it, she said.

The new building includes an office for the dispatcher with a window that overlooks the bus yard so they can easily monitor operations in the bus yard, as well as quiet rooms for operators between shifts, locker rooms, training rooms, a kitchen and office space.

The maintenance building was repainted and given upgrades, including a new generator and insulation, as well as new features like a bus battery charging room and two new fuel pumping stations.

“It needed a facility that was specific to transit like to the dispatch area and the quiet room and the generator,” Barrios said. The improvements will boost employee morale, she said, which will hopefully translate to a better rider experience.

Barrios said the generators would help during in extreme weather events when transportation department aids during mandatory evacuation by dropping people off at pickup points like the convention center and Delgado.

“We’re now hardwired for that kind of event,” she said.

Jefferson Parish transit was the only recipient of the Federal Transportation Administration's Buses and Bus Facilities competitive grant in the state, Lee Sheng said. It was awarded the funds in 2022.

"What we're doing throughout the parish is trying to renovate update our aging infrastructure, and this is again another chapter in that book," Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said. "All of these updates are going to provide our transit team with a first class facility... which will enhance the transportation service that we provide to our residents."

Jefferson Parish Council member Arita Bohannan, who represents District 4, said the new facility will be "instrumental in bringing transportation to our residents particularly our elderly to doctors appointments and to visit family."

Bohannan also used the occasion to announce a partnership between Jefferson Parish transportation and Uncle Sam Jam, the annual July 4 celebration in Lafreniere Park. Residents will be able to park at the Shrine on Airline Drive and will be shuttled to the festivities free of charge, she said.

Dominick Impastato, who represented the district until 2024, said the project began seven years ago when a group of state and parish officials took trips to D.C. to make a case for funding.

"In any growing community nationwide public transportation is a key element and in Jefferson Parish ... and it hasn't been made a priority," he said. "This shows where the priority is here."