Metro ceremonially broke ground on its second of three major bus garage redevelopments on Wednesday. The projects aim to modernize and replace facilities that are 61, 87, and 117 years old. It also is preparing WMATA for an all-electric bus fleet by 2045.

Bladensburg Bus Garage, a 17-acre site near Bladensburg Road NE and New York Avenue NE, was originally built in 1962. It houses nearly 20% of Metro’s bus fleet.

“It’s our biggest division, the most amount of operators, the most amount of buses and it’s in desperate need of a renovation to bring new technology and a new home for so many of our staff,” Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said at the groundbreaking. “We didn’t have this facility as a zero-emission (originally) and a lot of people in the last six months spent a lot of time trying to accelerate our program (to make it zero-emission ready).”

The two-building facility will be redeveloped in three phases. A maintenance shop has already been torn down and will be replaced with a three-level bus garage, maintenance facility, administrative offices, and more.

Eventually, the other building on-site will be torn down and a 500-stall garage will be built to accommodate buses and employee parking. Since the site is so big, Metro is able to keep running buses from it, unlike at the Northern Bus Garage, which is also undergoing redevelopment. WMATA is also redesigning the Western Bus Garage in Friendship Heights.

The work is set for completion in spring 2027.

A federal grant will pay for a fifth of the $420 million facility. Metro is building it to be LEED Platinum certified. The bus wash station will use storm water run-off to cut down on water use. Solar panels will help power the facility.

It’s being built as an “electric bus-ready” facility, but will still house some diesel buses before transitioning to all-electric once the electric fleet fills out in the coming years. It will start with about 150 electric buses, Metro says.

Unlike the dogged fight from the neighbors of the Western and Northern garages over noise and pollution, the Bladensburg facility has seen less protest from its neighbors, which are primarily commercial buildings, nightclubs and some neighborhoods. The land that the garage is built on was once home to the foundry that built the Statue of Freedom on top of the U.S. Capitol.

Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) said residents can live around this facility and “trust that we’re taking every step we can to minimize our environmental impact.”

WMATA also showed off a Nova electric bus Wednesday. The transit agency is buying five of those models as part of its pilot program of 12 electric buses. They go 250 miles on a single charge and take about 2 to 3 hours to fully charge.

The bus looks and feels like any other bus on the inside and out, but it has charging rails and batteries on the top. Instead of a diesel engine in the back, it has batteries and other electric equipment.