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Lexington bus stop to be made from soda bottles
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky-made soft drink is the theme of an environmentally friendly bus stop planned in Lexington that designers are calling “Bottlestop.”
The city’s first art bus shelter will be made out of recycled Ale 8 One soda bottles. The drink, pronounced “A Late One” is made in Winchester.
The new bus stop will sit in front of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government’s Versailles Road campus, near an electronics recycling center.
Designers say it’s designed to be eye-catching and environmentally friendly.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that ground was broken recently at the site, which should be completed in a couple of months.
“The Bottlestop bus shelter is a very creative and exciting way to put public art in our neighborhoods,” Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry said. “It is a design that undoubtedly will generate a lot of comments.”
City planner Joey David called Bottlestop “art with a utilitarian aspect to it.”
David said he hoped the shelter will spur others to “stretch” their minds and look at what they can do in their neighborhoods.
Jim McKay and Aaron Scales of McKay Snyder Architects of Lexington won a nationwide design contest with their design for the art shelter.
“I’m from Kentucky, and Ale 8 One is something I’ve kind of grown up with,” said Scales, an architectural intern at McKay Snyder, who was a senior at the University of Kentucky when the shelter design was done.
The glass and metal structure will be 6 1/2 feet by 18 feet long and house a stop for the city’s bus line, LexTran.
Bottlestop will also have a lighting system fueled by solar power.
The bottles, donated by Ale 8 One, will be attached to one another with structural silicone, then sandwiched between sections of heat-strengthened tempered glass.
Ale 8 One vice president Fielding Rogers said his company would gladly donate more bottles.
“It’s a great way to be able to reuse bottles that would otherwise go to waste,” he said.
In addition to bottles, Ale 8 One has contributed $3,500 for the solar panel that will power the structure’s lights. An additional $10,000 in federal funds, as well as many in-kind contributions, are also being used for the shelter.
O’Nan Glass and Voltaic Solar, both of Lexington, are building the structure.
