Email This   Larger Font      Print This   Smaller Font Advertisement

Wednesday, May 07, 2008
By MICHAEL ANDERSEN, Columbian staff writer

Local officials Tuesday unveiled a new $400,000 turnaround near the Veterans Affairs medical campus on Fourth Plain Boulevard that they say will make it easier for bus riders.

The bus stop, which started operating Monday, is located between the medical center and Clark County’s Center for Community Health, which offers prenatal care, food-handling certification, mental-health treatment and other public services.

The on-campus turnaround replaces a curbside bus stop near the community health building’s entrance, about 50 yards away. The campus is served by C-Tran Route 39, which runs along Fourth Plain.

In the past five months, an average of 23 riders boarded at that stop each weekday, according to county spokesman Geoff Knapp.

“We’re expecting ridership to improve,” said John Dodier, chief of facilities management for the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which oversees the Vancouver site.

Officials hope increased bus ridership to the complex will take strain off the campus’s crowded parking lots.

Dodier said the bus stop’s former location near the county building was a bad long-term spot because it was congested and too far from the VA buildings.

The project is part of a nationwide round of improvements to VA facilities, funded by a federal budget item worth “$300 million to $400 million” across the country, Dodier said.