The Transportation Department for the Crookston School District moved its first buses into the new $2.8 million bus garage behind Highland Elementary School earlier this week. Several buses and much of the district’s equipment is still located downtown as the final touches are being put on the new building.
Transportation Director Rick Niemala said the district should have all the buses in the new garage in the next few days. “Things are coming along slowly,” said Niemala. “We’re moving all of our stuff from downtown, and hopefully, by the end of the week, we’ll have the rest of the buses up here and in once we get the doors ready so they can open. The fuel system is still not operational, but that should be the end of the week also. Things are looking up every day and get a little better.”
The garage doors are still being wired, so currently, drivers have to open the doors manually. That, along with the fuel system, are just a couple of the punch list items that still need to be finished, said Niemala. “We still have some touch-up paint, corner guards, and some handicap stuff that needs to be put into the restrooms,” said Niemala. “They are looking to finish most of that stuff on Friday.”
The mechanics have already started to use the new space to work on buses using hoists rather than crawl under buses that had to be lowered by air suspension systems to get in the old maintenance bay doors. Even once the punch list is complete and the buses are in the new garage, it will take some time to move all the additional equipment to the new facility. “At least a couple of weeks or a little longer,” said Niemala. “It depends on the weather and how busy we are. It’s working well. It’s a real improvement what we’ve had for the last…forever.”
Once the punch list and move are complete, Niemala said they’ll open the building for tours. “We’ll have some open houses for the public at some time in the future here once we get everything up and operational,” said Niemala. “Anybody interested can come over and look at that time.”
