Construction on the Multi-Modal Transfer Facility, the MMTF shuttle stop located next to the Recreation Center- North, began in mid-August to allow for an enclosed building to be built where students can wait for the shuttle to arrive.

This building is called a nexus. The nexus will allow students to wait in a comfortable area on days that do not have ideal weather conditions.

"This is really one of the last stages of our transit plan that started well over 10 years ago actually," vice president of Finance and Administration Kathy Mangels said.

Other parts of the transit plan included creating an entire shuttle system on campus and building multi-level parking garages, Mangels said.

Previously, the MMTF shuttle stop featured a temporary solution to the nexus by having benches covered by glass overhangs available for students to sit on. The plans for the nexus are much more elaborate.

The approximately 1,000-square-foot building will feature heating and cooling, Wi-Fi capability, restrooms, vending machines and a shuttle tracker.

"There will be plenty of waiting area so if it's rainy, if it's snowy, you can either be inside waiting or there will also be a covering where the roof will extend so people can even be waiting outside," Mangels said.

Safety was also a main priority when designing the nexus.

"It was also designed with the glass so that from a safety standpoint an individual coming up to the building or DPS doing their drive-throughs can see so that it's not an area that anyone can linger," Mangels said. "So we made sure there were cameras, an emergency phone, plenty of lighting and a lot of glass so that everything was very visible knowing that the shuttles do run very late at night."

The convenience of the nexus at the MMTF shuttle stop is sure to be put to use because between 180,000 and 186,000 students ride the shuttle for one-way trips in an academic year.

In order to build the nexus, the university received grant funding from the Federal Transit Administration. The grant will cover around 80 percent and the university will pay around 20 percent of the costs of the nexus. Exact costs of the project have not yet been determined, Mangels said.

The MMTF shuttle stop construction will not affect the parking in the lot, but it has caused a minor change in the shuttle routes.

While construction is underway, the shuttles will stop along Recreation Center Drive to accommodate students that park in that lot or are coming from the Recreation Center-North, Parking and Transit manager Beth Glaus said.

The nexus project is expected to be completed the first week of January and at that time the shuttles will return to the MMTF shuttle stop as before but with expectations of more passengers.

"Anybody who has waited on the top of this hill [MMTF shuttle stop] in January or February and felt that wind coming off those north slopes across that hill, I think many times has opted 'If I'm moving, I'm warmer, so I'm better off walking if my first class is in Dempster' because it's not that far," Glaus said. "But I think that if they know that 'I can make it to that building [nexus] and sit and enjoy a soda or a cup of coffee or just get prepared for a class', I think more people will opt to use it."