The environmental document for the proposed expansion of the Unitrans Bus Maintenance Facility at the University of California, Davis, has been completed and is available for public review and comment.

Unitrans, with a fleet of 43 buses, is a student-run system providing transportation for the campus population and the Davis community. Current Unitrans operations far exceed the capacity of its existing maintenance facility, located in the central campus east of Garrod Road and west of the Fleet Services Central Garage off La Rue Road. The facility was built in 1986 when Unitrans had a 14-bus fleet.

The proposed expansion project consists of renovating the approximately 6,085-square-foot bus maintenance building, adding 9,860 square feet of new enclosed building space, and enlarging the facility area by half an acre to add room for parking and improve vehicle circulation.

The renovations and expansion of the yard are expected to:
* Allow Unitrans to expand its bus fleet to up to 56 buses over the next ten years.
* Correct shortcomings in the original facility.
* Provide safe and uncrowded working conditions.
* Offer security for equipment and supplies.
* Develop a landscape transition to the adjacent UC Davis Arboretum.

The project would also include making the following improvements to the 3.8-acre maintenance yard: moving the chassis wash; providing protective overhangings over the fuel, service and chassis wash areas; upgrading fueling security equipment; improving utility connections; and landscaping the western and southern sides of the expanded facility.

The Draft Tiered Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration are available, with the public notice for the project, on the Web at .

Copies also are available at the university's Office of Resource Management and Planning in Mrak Hall and the reserve reading rooms of UC Davis' Shields Library, the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library and the Vacaville Public Library.

Written comments may be submitted through Aug. 27 to the Office of Resource Management and Planning, 376 Mrak Hall, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, or e-mailed to environreview@ucdavis.edu.