The $1 Million Dollar Bus Stop of Arlington, Virginia
A new bus stop on Columbia Pike cost more than $1 million to build, according to a county spokeswoman.
The new prototype "Super Stop" at the corner of Columbia Pike and Walter Reed Drive cost $575,000 for construction and fabrication and $440,000 for construction management and special inspections, according to Arlington County Department of Environmental Services spokeswoman Shannon Whalen McDaniel.
They got some Other People's Money, though, county residents, don't fret too much:
Of the $1 million cost, just over $200,000 was paid for by the county, with the rest coming from VDOT, Whalen McDaniel said.
Don't worry–future ones will cost less, they insist.
"Since this stop is the first of its kind, the cost is higher than your typical off-the-shelf bus shelter," she said. "The costs will be greatly reduced with future stops moving forward, as the construction costs for this prototype included a number of first time design and set-up costs."
"It's too early to provide a cost estimate for the future stops, but it will be much less," Whalen McDaniel said.
As a commenter in that Arlington Now story thread notes, this million-buck state of the art stop won't even keep those waiting for a bus dry in the rain.