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View Winners → El Monte Bus Station Now Open to the Public
Arcadia Weekly Oct 12, 2012
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The new El Monte Bus Station -Photo by Dena Burroughs
After two years of construction, the new state-of-the-art LEED certified El Monte Bus Station opens to the public Sunday, October 14. Twice the size of the old facility, the revamped station has modern amenities including message signs, intercoms, closed circuit television, solar panels, information displays, elevators and escalators, a transit stores, bike stations, and lockers.
The original bus station opened in 1973 and had been handling approximately 22,000 patrons daily. Funded by a $210 million federal grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the upgraded facility is expected to increase daily passenger capacity by 82 percent to 40,000 riders.
The new structure is aesthetically pleasing, further adorned by a Donald Lipski sculpture set at its entrance. Lipski, who is an internationally renowned artist with works at venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Chicago Institute of Art, created “Time Piece,” an artwork that incorporates three functional, double-sided clocks, suspended from a 30-foot tall stainless steel arch. Each clock weighs 350 pounds, is illuminated, and has two faces – as one enters the station the clocks read “Metro,” and as one leaves they read “El Monte.”
A host of elected and community officials dedicated the completion of the station on Wednesday, October 10, including Senators, Congressmen, Assemblymen, and the Council members of several neighboring cities. The entire El Monte City Council was present.
“El Monte has been known as the end of the Santa Fe trail,” said El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero. “Now it may also be known as the beginning of a faster and easier commute in the San Gabriel Valley.” Quintero said the completion of the new station is also a fitting celebration to kick-off the City of El Monte’s next 100 years.
The event included a ribbon cutting ceremony that officially marked the completion of the construction and the welcoming of the public to the facility.
