The South Capitol District Planning Committee unanimously chose the corner of North Bedford and West Mifflin Streets as the location for a proposed multi-use bus depot, Bassett Neighborhood President Davy Mayer said at a Bassett Neighborhood meeting Monday.
The proposed bus depot is part of an ongoing city effort to improve the accessibility and connectivity of the South Capitol Planning District, which stretches from Bedford to Blair Streets and includes the area between Wilson Street and Lake Monona, to the rest of the city.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said The Boldt Company, a Milwaukee-based construction company, has worked “behind the scenes” with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop plans for the facility, which would include university office spaces as well as residential units, retail and a large parking facility.
Bassett Neighborhood members questioned whether the bus companies that service campus would be willing to use a less centralized bus depot. Busses have traditionally stopped outside Memorial Union but have been temporarily stopping on University Avenue outside the Chazen Museum of Art during Memorial Union reconstruction.
Verveer said the committee reached out to a handful of the inner city bus companies a few months ago, and they said they were not open to using a bus depot unless it was on or immediately adjacent to campus.
But Verveer said if the city and the university told the bus companies to use the bus depot and that they were not welcome to use either Langdon Street or University Avenue, that they would likely comply.
The bus depot could break ground as early as 2014, according to Verveer, but budget planning for the depot has not formally begun.
