Westwood ETS garage officially closed, Kathleen Andrews facility operational

The Kathleen Andrews Transit Garage, which opened Feb. 9, 2020, cost $210.7 million to build.

EDMONTON — The opening of a new ETS garage on Sunday marked the closing of another.

All bus service that formerly operated out of Westwood has been moved to the Kathleen Andrews Transit Garage, located at 12403 Fort Road.

The 400,000 square-foot garage has room for 300 buses and administrative and operational space for up to 700 drivers and staff.

The first buses left from the address at 5:10 a.m. Sunday.

Westwood Garage had reached the end of its lifespan, the city said when deciding to build the Kathleen Andrews facility.

The project's budget was increased to $210.7 million to make accommodations for ETS's growing number of electric buses. According to the city, the garage needed a reinforced platform, an additional emergency generation and charging stations.

The building is also LEED- Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, and was built to use solar panels in the future.

Kathleen Andrews was Edmonton's first woman bus operator. Her daughter, Lisa Andrews, will attend a public opening event at the garage on Tuesday.