Agency hopes transit hub will link whole county

Grant County Transit officials have their fingers crossed that their plans for a transportation hub in the middle of downtown Moses Lake will become a reality and link far flung corners of the county to other transportation.

The GTA’s longest route is the one that comes to the Grand Coulee area, about 77 miles.

The group submitted a grant request to the state Department of Transportation Oct. 6, for $1.998 million, according to Lyle Brand, hub project manager.

The proposed “hub” project is located at Division and 5th Streets on 1.1 acres near the central business district.

The hub, if built, would allow riders to connect with all Grant Transit Authority buses, some 28 of them, to get to their final destinations.

“We plan to contact Trailways and Greyhound bus systems to see if they would like to be part of the hub so riders can connect for travel outside the area,” Brand stated.

The GTA purchased the property for $485,000. The property formerly housed a church and later a funeral parlor.

“We will be reimbursed 80 percent of the purchase price if the DOT looks favorably on our grant request,” Brand said.

The GTA expects to hear whether it got the grant in April. It would cover 80 percent of the cost of construction and the county group would put up the remainder of the money.

The GTA plans to move forward with the demolition of the existing structure within a couple of months.

The hub would also allow the GTA to develop a park-and-ride lot as part of the development. Buses would not be stored there.

If the agency receives the grant, it is expected that the project will be completed by the fall of 2016.

The GTA started with four buses back in 1995.

The bus that serves the local area stops near Electric City’s city hall, Coulee Medical Center, near Safeway, at the Bureau of Reclamation and at Harvest Foods.

“We have several who ride our Grand Coulee bus from Moses Lake to work at the hospital and the dam,” Brand stated. Cost: $1 each way.

The GTA is funded through a Grant County sales tax formula.

It is the GTA’s hope that the hub would enable a person to hop on one of its buses, ride it to Moses Lake and connect with a Trailways or Greyhound bus for longer destinations.

Electric City Councilmember Brad Parrish serves on the GTA committee, and made a report of the proposed project to the council at its last meeting.