Officials cutting the ribbon on the new Pace Plainfield Facility, which will be operational this fall. L-R: Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger, fmr. Pace Director Roger Claar, Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski, RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard, State Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, Northern Builders Sr. Vice President Matthew Grusecki, Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis.
New garage, made possible by Rebuild Illinois funding, will support Bus on Shoulder Express Service from southwest suburbs
PLAINFIELD, IL – Earlier today, officials from Pace, Illinois, Will County, the Village of Plainfield, and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) joined representatives from Northern Builders, Inc. to celebrate Pace’s new maintenance and storage garage near the Pace Plainfield Park-n-Ride on Depot Drive. Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski, Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, Illinois Senator Meg Loughran Cappel, Plainfield Mayor John F. Argoudelis, RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard, and Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger offered comments at the event.
Also in attendance were Pace Director Terrance Carr; former Pace Director and former Mayor of Bolingbrook Roger Claar; representatives from Senator Tammy Duckworth’s office; Tom Flynn, President, Teamsters Local 179; Hugh O’Hara, Executive Director of the Will County Governmental League; Doug Pryor, President & CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development; Workforce Investment Board of Will County Director Caroline L. Portlock; Plainfield Village Administrator Joshua Blakemore; Matthew Grusecki, Senior Vice President of Northern Builders; and representatives from RTA, Metra, and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski welcomed attendees and noted how important support from the State of Illinois was in making this service and building a reality. “We owe much of our success with Pace’s Bus on Shoulder program to our state’s leaders, who were bold enough to test buses operating on the shoulder in 2011, to make it permanent in 2014, and then to invest in modernizing the program’s infrastructure through the Rebuild Illinois bill—which is what we are here to celebrate today,” he said.
The $52 million facility is built on an 11.92-acre site was funded by Pace using resources from the State’s Rebuild Illinois Capital Program. Pace joins the Village of Plainfield and Northern Builders, Inc. as part of their Depot Drive Public-Private Partnership, where Northern Builders, Inc. serves as the Design-Build Contractor to design and construct the facility.
“This forward-thinking investment by Pace is empowering Will County’s growth by offering more transportation options for our residents. I was proud to support the Bus-on-Shoulder express services as a State Senator and I appreciate Pace’s efforts to expand this service locally,” said Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.
Illinois Senator Meg Loughran Cappel, who represents the 49th District, spoke next. “We have many great things happening in Will County, in the 49th District and especially right here in Plainfield. This newest bus garage is just another example of the economic growth and innovation that continues in the area. I am very proud to work with our leaders who are planning for and leading with positive change, just like this, for the people in our communities.”
“It is essential that fast-growing suburbs, like Plainfield, have accessible public transportation and our partnership with Pace has provided residents with just that - express service to Downtown Chicago. We appreciate Pace’s commitment to Plainfield; the facility that we are celebrating today is a testament to our great partnership and we look forward to Pace’s future growth in the community,” said Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis.
This facility will allow for the expansion of Pace’s Bus on Shoulder Express Service and create space for additional vehicles needed to operate the popular service which takes commuters from various south region park-n-rides to downtown Chicago using the shoulder on I-55 to bypass congestion. Pre-pandemic, ridership on the service grew over 600% since the implementation of shoulder use in 2011. The service is again seeing full parking lots and buses as riders return.
“In 2011, the State of Illinois passed forward-thinking legislation that allowed us to start our Bus on Shoulder Express Service. This service sails past traffic, offering direct routes with trip times that are often faster than driving. That is public transportation at its finest,” said RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard. “Bus on Shoulder passengers can transfer to CTA and Metra to get from the southwest suburbs to virtually anywhere in Chicagoland. The RTA is proud to support this investment, which benefits the entire region.”
Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger close the program before inviting attendees to help cut the ribbon on the new facility. “Because of the support we’ve received on local, regional, and state levels, we are standing in Pace’s first new fixed-route garage in more than 30 years,” she said. “This facility is a win-win-win for our passengers, for our employees, and for our whole region.”
