Ground Broken For New Jonesboro JETS Center

It may have taken Jonesboro city officials a little while to get there, but a new 2,000-square-feet transfer bus station in the middle of the city will help people get to their destination as quickly as possible, officials said Thursday.

Ground was broken late Thursday for the $1.1 million facility, at the corner of Caraway Road and Washington Avenue, for the Jonesboro Economical Transit System.

The idea for the transportation system started in the late 1990s when several residents sat down and talked about the town’s growth, transit director Steve Ewart said.

A group was formed in 2000 to study the issue, spending nearly four years, going over what was needed, Ewart said.

A task force was created in 2005 and the first bus left the garage in May 2006.

The program had nearly 100,000 riders in 2014, with the buses taking people all over Jonesboro.

The new facility, on the site of a former fire station that was torn down earlier this year, will have room for eight 40-passenger buses as well as a waiting room for riders.

Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin said the new center is in a good location, with the downtown area, Arkansas State University and the city’s new police station all within walking distance.

Also, the city’s two hospitals – St. Bernards Regional Medical Center and NEA Baptist Hospital – are major destinations in which riders visit, Perrin said.

Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Mark Young said the facility will be an important connector for the city’s healthcare and business areas.

“It will connect people. It will connect friends and family. It will connect healthcare and it will connect ASU,” Young said.

Perrin agreed, saying the location provides “the highest retail opportunity.”

Perrin said officials are working on a plan to build a walk-over to the ASU Intramural Fields, to help students be able to catch a bus to downtown Jonesboro or other areas.

There is also a plan to work with other providers like Greyhound to help riders if they are traveling out of town, Perrin said.

Ewart said the area of Jonesboro near ASU, where the building is being constructed, has changed a lot since he was in college many years ago.

“This area was cow pastures and was out in the county (when he and Mayor Perrin went to ASU),” Ewart said.

The center is expected to be completed by October 2015, officials said.