Summit County officials are preparing to move forward this spring with a multimillion-dollar transportation center that will house the Summit Stage’s electric vehicle fleet.

The roughly 76,000-square-foot transportation facility will provide electrification for the free Summit Stage bus system to go fully electric. The project is supported by a $34.8 million grant from the Federal Transportation Administration with the Summit County government providing a 20% match, or about $4.7 million.

On Tuesday, April 1, Compass Transit Consulting representative Michael Koch assured the Summit Board of County Commissioners that the federal grant money for the transportation center will come through, despite previous concerns that a federal funding pause could impact the project.

“I’ve spoken with (the Federal Transportation Administration). I’ve spoken with (the Colorado Department of Transportation). And they have assured me that your grant is not under any sort of scrutinization,” Koch said. “All lights are green. They’ve provided me with a lot of reassurances at the federal and state level that your funds are not in jeopardy of being halted.”

Construction of the three-story project is expected to get underway this spring and last about 18 months, according to Summit County communications director Adrienne Saia Isaac. The project is slated to include office spaces on the top floor, 10 one-bedroom units for transit employees on the second floor and a dispatch center and bus bay on the first floor.

The bus bay is planned to have the capacity to store 52 vehicles, including 36 buses and 16 paratransit and support vehicles, according to the project plans. A rooftop solar system is also reportedly planned to help offset energy needs at the facility.

While the federal grant will cover a significant portion of the construction costs, it will not cover construction of the workforce housing units on site. Housing costs for the project are estimated to be about $4.7 million, according to the county government.

Summit County transit director Chris Lubbers at the commissioners meeting Tuesday, April 1, noted the importance of the new transit center project.

“All eyes are on us to complete this project,” Lubbers said. “It was, quite possibly still is, the largest grant ever given to a rural transit agency in the nation, not just the state.”

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The commissioners discussed how to move forward on another transit initiative, microtransit, given the ongoing work on the transit center. Lubbers suggested holding off on the microtransit pilot for the time being, until the new transit center is up and running.

The main purpose of microtransit is to connect people to existing bus routes, aiming to address the “first mile, last mile” problem for those who are not located near bus stops.

“Microtransit is wonderful. It is great,” Lubbers said. “We should do it, just not right now.”

Commissioner Tamara Pogue said that she agrees with Lubbers but noted that the county has looked into microtransit “because we have a workforce that relies heavily on transportation, and it still takes far too long to get from, in my opinion, one side of the county to the other to be practical.”

In lieu of the microtransit pilot, Lubbers suggested that the transportation department “continue to improve fixed routes,” such as continuing to improve the Frisco to Keystone bus route, getting that closer to 30-minute service.

Commissioner Nina Waters noted that, “As we are building this transit center, this will give us the ability and the capacity that we need for better route service.”