Oxnard Awards Contract for Transportation Center

The city council has awarded a $2.8-million contract to Viola Inc. of Oxnard to build the first phase of a transportation center in the city’s downtown redevelopment area.

The successful bidder has met all of the requirements of federal and state agencies, with 15% of the project’s work to be done by minority-owned businesses and 5% by firms owned by women, according to certification of the contract by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

The center, which has been in the planning stages since 1982, is a major part of the central city’s redevelopment program, and will be built on a seven-acre site bounded by Oxnard Boulevard, 3rd and 5th streets, and the Southern Pacific railroad tracks.

Of the total estimated cost of $7 million, $4,384,000 will come from the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration, $1.7 million from Caltrans, with up to $1 million contributed by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

Construction is scheduled to begin during July, with the center expected to be in full operation in January, 1987.

“Various transportation systems will be organized and coordinated in the 13,000 square-foot, two-story building, and this will encourage citizens to take advantage of mass transportation to reduce the reliance on personal automobiles,” said Dennis Matthews, the city redevelopment administrator.

Served by the project will be: Amtrak trains, Greyhound, South-East Coast Transit and Great American Stage Coach (LAX) buses, airport limousine service and car rental firms.

Officially known as the Multi-Modal Transportation Center, the architectural and planning firm of Leach & Kehoe, Oxnard, provided the design, and the engineering and planning was done by MSB, Oxnard.