bankstop
bus stop: piggy bank
The pig has been cut and is on its way to be welded to the frame.
Site work will begin on the Euclid Avenue “piggy” BankStop, possibly next week, said project organizer Kate Savage, who added that the bus stop could be installed by the end of next month.
The whimsical bus stop is a joint partnership between Lextran, which will be providing the site excavation work and concrete foundation; Art in Motion, which provided immeasurable advisory assistance to the project; Columbia Heights Neighborhood Association, of which Savage is a member; and Republic Bank, which donated the space for the bus stop to be installed next to its Euclid Avenue branch.
Savage said once project was complete, it would be the culmination of nearly two years’ worth of work.
Savage said she was able to raise just shy of $40,000 toward the project. The money came from a number of different sources: a neighborhood sustainability grant, neighborhood development funds, corridors donations, a $2,000 donation from Kroger (located across the street from the future bus stop), a $2,500 University Neighborhood Advisory Committee donation, a $10,000 Neighborhood Action Match Program grant, and more than $10,000 from a Kickstarter campaign, which ended last October.
The bus stop is being built by Josh Marrillia of Marrillia Design and Construction. Designs were provided by Patrick Morgan, a Lexington native attending architecture graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the moment, the only bus stops in the vicinity are small, uncovered benches that are heavily utilized. Savage said whenever there is poor weather, bus riders have to brave the elements, and she felt the neighborhood could provide a more comfortable place for those using public transportation.
“Originally it was something we wanted to do for the neighborhood,” Savage said. “We see people sitting on those benches in all weathers and it just seemed like an ambitious project that the neighborhood could take on.”