St. Armands Circle requesting a bus stop shelter

Businesses on St. Armands Circle are requesting a new bus shelter.

A wrap-around shelter previously covered the Sarasota County Area Transit stop located at John Ringling Boulevard and South Adams Drive, said Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, in an email to the Sarasota County Commission.

Many tourists and employees using public transportation to get around use this stop, and there isn’t a place for them to get out of the sun or rain, Corrigan said.

SCAT is now looking into installing a bus shelter, said Sarah Blanchard, senior planner for SCAT.

“This location is one of several now being programmed for design and construction,” Blanchard said.

The county doesn’t know how much this shelter would cost yet, she said. A cost can be estimated after the evaluation of the existing sidewalks and stormwater infrastructure, or lack thereof.

SCAT is considering putting in bus shelters at 15 locations in both the county and city of Sarasota and North Port, Blanchard said in an email.

There are two aspects of the cost of installing shelters, "above ground" and "below ground" costs, Blanchard said.

"Above ground" is the purchase of materials and equipment and installation, including amenities such as benches and bike racks. The total for this portion is about $7,100, Blanchard said.

"Below ground" includes costs such as site surveying, engineering, permitting, real estate services and construction. The cost is more variable and depends on the size and design of the project, Blanchard said. Smaller, simpler structures built in the past have been around $10,000 for this "below ground" portion of building a shelter, but more complex or bigger shelters can cost between $15,000 and $34,000.