The Downtown Transit Center (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
Update, 12 p.m.: Cherriots has resume service at the downtown transit center Friday after Salem police cleared a report of a suspicious package.
The item that prompted the evacuation was a suitcase, Salem police spokesman Lt. Treven Upkes said.
Original article:
Cherriots has evacuated its downtown transit center due to a suspicious package, the agency said Friday morning.
“We are setting up a temporary transit center on Mission Street in the Bush Park parking lot. Please expect significant delays for all routes serving the downtown area,” Cherriots said on Twitter.
Cherriots spokeswoman Patricia Feeny said the evacuation was prompted by an item on the sidewalk near the building’s northeast stairwell which was reported at 9:08 a.m.
Salem police determined the first floor of the transit center should evacuate and other building workers should remain in their offices away from windows, she said. The agency’s customer service staff work on the first floor and are unable to answer calls due to the evacuation.
Salem police spokesman Lt. Treven Upkes said the department’s bomb team was responding to investigate a “suspicious item.”
“Transit is evacuating and sheltering in place as a precaution. We are asking people to avoid the area until the situation is resolved,” Upkes said in an email.
-Rachel Alexander
