City To Centralize Vehicle Fleet Repairs

by Gabe BullardLouisville Metro Government officials are planning to streamline the process for maintaining the city's vehicle fleet.Except for ambulances and fire trucks, most of the 37 hundred vehicles in the city fleet are repaired at three facilities. Engine work is done at shops on Newburg Road and Logan Street, and radios and electronics are repaired on Bardstown Road.Through a land swap with MSD, the city will acquire a 34 acre lot near the Newburg Road facility, and build a combined repair shop there. Public Works director Ted Pullen says a centralized maintenance location may lead to more driving in some cases, but will streamline repairs overall."That can't all be done at one time because things get in the way—this, that and the other, you have to wait on other things—so it has to be shuttled between our shop and the radio shop and then back," he says. "So with everybody being able to do all that work here, it makes it a lot simpler."The new shop will cost about 2.5 million dollars, and the mayor hopes to reallocate unused bond funds to finance the construction. Pullen says the facility could be built by the end of the year.