RTA station honors late Congresswoman

CLEVELAND - A multi-million dollar transportation facility opened in Northeast Ohio in honor of a late beloved Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

The transit center was opened and named after the congresswoman Tuesday morning. Tubbs Jones died after an aneurysm in 2008.

This is the first downtown bus hub in Cleveland and RTA officials said hundreds of buses will use the center to turn around and pick up thousands of passengers everyday. The downtown bus hub is located on the Cleveland State University campus on Prospect Avenue at East 21st Street.

State and city leaders said Tubbs Jones got the ball rolling on this project by getting funding for it years ago.

A statue of her face sits on the outside of the center on Prospect Avenue and a mural in her honor was painted inside.

One of the artists commissioned to paint the mural said the facility couldn't have been named for a more inspiring person.

"She transcended and worked with everybody. It is a hub, a universal hub and it is appropriate that so many people from all walks of life, color and creed are going to come through this and her name is attached to it," Ricky Lewis said.

The first bus left the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center at 3 p.m. Tuesday.