Lewes Transit Center second phase underway

A new 170-foot passenger canopy is well underway at Lewes Transit Center, where work continues on the second of three phases of the state-of-the-art park-and-ride facility near Five Points. 

Department of Transportation Community Relations Officer C.R. McLeod said there are three major elements crews have begun work on: a passenger canopy, a visitors center, and a maintenance garage and bus parking at the rear of the property.

The canopy will feature overhead digital passenger displays with bus information, benches and charging ports for electronic devices. The canopy is expected to be complete by May, in time for the 2018 tourist season. The targeted completion for the new visitors center is mid-summer 2018.

The facilities that stood on the transit center site during its first year of operation were temporary, McLeod said.

“The original structures there were modular buildings – they were brought in by truck and then taken away and will be repurposed,” he said. “The intent was always for there to be temporary facilities to allow the transit center to open in 2017 until Phase 2 got underway with the permanent structures put in place.”

Phase 3, which is going out to bid soon, calls for construction of the new bus maintenance center, which will support year-round bus service that will go into effect for eastern Sussex County beginning in May. 

The cost of the current work is roughly $1 million, including civil and structural engineering and design, manufacturing, site work, and installation. 

Ridership increased about 21 percent on the resort bus lines from 2016 to 2017, McLeod said.