T.W. Clark Construction LLC, of Spokane Valley, started construction in September on a $4.1 million transportation building for the Othello and Royal school districts, in Othello, Wash.

Othello, with a population of about 7,600 people, is located about 110 miles southwest of Spokane. Royal City, with a population of about 2,100 people, is 25 miles east of Othello. 

The planned 17,000-square-foot, single-story building is being constructed on a 20-acre site at 2040 S. Broadway in Othello and will be used to store the Othello district’s school buses when they’re not in use, says Scott Rountree, project manager at T.W. Clark. The facility also will serve as a shared maintenance facility for the Royal City School District. 

Kim Homdrom, spokeswoman for Coeur d’Alene-based Architects West Inc., designer on the project, says the facility, as planned, will have five bays for bus maintenance, a loft for storage space, a wash bay, a fueling island, and spaces for training and offices.  Outdoor parking will accommodate 64 buses, 16 fleet vehicles, and 97 other vehicles, she says.

Rountree says the project is scheduled to be completed in August 2015. 

Funding for the Othello transportation facility, is coming from excess state matching funds associated with a 2007 bond issue, as well as state matching funds specific to transportation facilities, says Gina Bullis, assistant superintendent of the Othello School District.