Transit center opens July 31

MOSES LAKE — The grand opening of the new Grant Transit Authority transit center is scheduled for July 31, with operation beginning the next day.

The new center will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 31, for bus riders and transit authority patrons to come in and take a look around. It’s located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Division Street.

The center has been under construction since fall 2016, through a really cold, snowy winter and a windy wet spring. The building’s exterior is almost complete; workers were putting the finishing touches on the exterior Wednesday morning.

The two-story building has offices and a lobby where people can wait for the bus during bad weather. That’s in addition to a bus shelter in the bus lane, which crosses the property from Division Street to Ash Street.

The new facility will be a transfer point for passengers, replacing the current one at the Surf ‘n Slide Water Park, (The bus stop at the water park still will be open, but it won’t be a transfer point.)

The transit center will be used by other mass-transit agencies and private transportation businesses, a concept known as “multi-modal.” The site will be available to other bus lines, including People for People, and as a taxi stop.

The center bus shelter is partially completed, and some of the sidewalks have been completed. Sidewalks around the building were being poured Wednesday. Part of the parking lot has been paved.

Some new bus routes will go into effect when the bus station opens Aug. 1, said JoBeth Carlson, GTA marketing and public relations manager.

Both Fifth Street and Ash Street are two lanes, and there’s a considerable amount of traffic at some times during the day at the Fifth Street-Division Street intersection. Because it’s a busy spot, buses will enter from Fifth Street and exit onto Ash Street, Carlson said. “We’ll be going around the block,” she said.

A traffic study was required as part of the permitting process for the new transit center, said acting city engineer Richard Law. City engineering officials also reviewed the data, and determined the transit center would have a low impact on traffic. Bus traffic would be distributed throughout the day, and would not have a significant impact at peak traffic hours in the morning and evening, Law said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.