Valley View Buses Back in Action this Week

The Valley View School District 365U's transportatoin fleet will be fully operational this week after a Romeoville oil spill kept the buses at bay late last week.

But there's a catch.

Once the buses set sail, they can't return. At least not until the job is done.

Officials monitering the oil spill that was first reported Sept. 9 will not allow day-long operation of the nearby Spangler Transportation Center, where the district keeps its buses, for safety reasons.

According to a release, a district task force, headed by Transportation Director Lucy Harding and Technology Director Joe Jordan, have been working throughout weekend to set up a temporary dispatch center at the Valley View Administration Center as well as a staging plan that will allow drivers to run their routes without the need to return to the Transportation Center until the end of the day.

That means residents could be seeing buses parked in drivers' driveways and in designated parking lots.

Drivers who live in either town will be allowed to take their buses home before heading back out to take children home from school. Drivers who don't live in either town will take their buses to designated "staging areas" in both towns to await their next run.

After-school activity bus routes will all be run as scheduled.

If mechanical problems should occur, drivers have been instructed to utilize Valley View crews that have set up temporary shop at the Bolingbrook and Romeoville high schools.

Harding said the same procedure will be followed every day until the cleanup of the massive pipeline leak has been completed or the village and environmental officials indicate the air quality is safe enough that the Spangler Transportation Center can once again be occupied throughout the day.

Just past noon on Sept. 9, Romeoville officials were notified of the spill at 719 Parkwood Ave., in the Romeoville Industrial Park. According to a release, village staff determined it was a petroleum-based substance apparently coming from an underground Enbridge—a company that transports Canadian oil—petroleum pipeline.

All businesses along Parkwood Avenue were advised to evacuate as a precautionary measure and the Romeoville Fire Department, Coast Guard, Illinois EPA, Enbridge Energy, Public Utilities, Romeoville Police Department, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Will County Forest Preserve agencies were all called to help in the matter.

The pipeline was shut down at 12:45 p.m. by Enbridge Energy Partners and the spill has since been contained.