NATCHEZ — The Natchez Transit Service is in the final stages of approval to build a new transit facility as part of a $3 million stimulus package to upgrade transportation services in Natchez and surrounding areas.

NTS Executive Director Sabrena Bartley said she will meet with representatives from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration next week to review plans for the facility, which she said will be the first of its kind in the state.

MDOT and FTA, Bartley said, will make suggestions for adjustments to the plans, which will then be sent to the FTA for final approval and then to the Natchez Board of Aldermen for approval to begin the bid process for contractors.

The facility, its equipment, as well as the recently purchased two trolleys, commuter bus and two other passenger vehicles, are being funded by a $3 million federal stimulus package through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The FTA is administering the funds, which require no matching funds from the city.

Bartley said the facility will be located at the site of the former A-B Motor Company on North Shields Lane and will house offices for NTS, as well other transportation providers, such as a limousine service or other public transportation systems.

All transit vehicles, Bartley said, will be kept at the new facility, which will also have an on-site maintenance center. She said NTS will hire mechanics and other staff for the facility creating at least 20 new jobs.

NTS will also receive a technology upgrade with the new facility, Bartley said. Currently the transit vehicles use GPS, but she said a tracking system at the new facility will allow staff to see the movement of NTS vehicles as well as vehicles for other transportation providers that will use the facility.

The new automated system will also allow requests for service, vehicle maintenance, billing and other things to be kept in one easily accessible system, Bartley said.

The goal for the new facility, Bartley said, is to centralize transportation services to one location. She said since the 2005 passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, there has been a push for the coordination of services and the elimination of duplicate services of different transportation providers by enabling the providers to share their resources.

Bartley said the facility will allow NTS to expand its service area and incorporate park-and-ride routes carrying out-of-town passengers with new fixed routes in the city that will have designated stops and fixed schedules. She said NTS will be the lead agency at the facility and will be able to work with and coordinate services with other transportation providers.

“Natchez has the potential to really have an extremely successful rural transportation service,” Bartley said.

“I realize there are some unmet needs, and we can meet those needs with this facility and put us as a forerunner in rural transportation.”

The facility’s 24-hour regional call center, Bartley said, will allow people to call one number for all their transportation needs.

The facility will also have a center for staff training for NTS, MDOT and any other providers leasing office space at the facility.

The City of Natchez will receive any revenue from leasing office space to be put in the general fund for future expansion of transportation services.

The facility, Bartley said, has been in the works for several years and was able to become a reality through stimulus funds. She said there were talks at MDOT for a regional transit facility for years but no money to fund it.

Natchez was chosen for the facility, Bartley said, because the city is not only an economic hub in southwest Mississippi but also because it is typically on evacuation routes for natural disasters.

“This facility will have the capabilities to allow the transit services that would not be able to operate (during a disaster) to operate safely from the facility,” she said.

Bartley said NTS has outgrown its time as a “small-time” transportation provider.

“Being able to house all our vehicles, maintenance, operations and expand service through technology, as well as being a part of the economic development fabric by bringing people into Natchez is all wrapped into this concept,” she said.

Bartley said she would like construction to begin March 1, but she said the approval processes are typically slow, so construction will more than likely begin later.