The city of Colorado Springs on Tuesday took the first concrete step toward building a long-discussed transit center in the urban renewal area southwest of downtown, a facility officials expect will serve generations of commuters.Transit officials submitted an application for $12 million of state money through Senate Bill 1, which provides funds for transit projects statewide, including the popular FREX commuter bus service operated by the city’s transit system.Sherre Ritenour, manager of transit services for the city, said Colorado Springs will have to come up with $2.4 million in matching money to receive the grant. The city would then seek federal grant money, partner with private developers working in the urban renewal area and possibly seek the participation of other government agencies to build the estimated $41 million facility.Ritenour said the city should know in a few months whether it has prevailed over other proposed transit projects competing for the grant money.She said she couldn’t say when the transit center would be built, in part because it depends on how quickly other development occurs in the urban renewal area.”I’ve been envisioning this for the last eight years, but I hesitate to guess when it will be ready,” Ritenour said. “I hope we can turn the key on this sooner than later.”The urban renewal area has been defined as north of Cimarron Street, mostly south of Colorado Avenue and west of Cascade Avenue. Ritenour said that the city is interested in a couple of sites within that area but that it hasn’t chosen an exact location. She said it makes sense to locate the center as close to existing railroad tracks as possible; those are located on the western side of that area, near Interstate 25. When it is built, the transit center will look and function nothing like the dark, cavelike transit center now operating out of the bottom floor of the city-owned garage at Kiowa Street and Nevada Avenue, she said.

That facility, despite efforts to “polish it up,” is not inviting for bus riders and difficult to navigate for bus drivers.

The city envisions a transit center that is part of an “urban environment” full of shops, pedestrians, apartments and lofts and cultural attractions, much like the Market Street Station in Denver. It could incorporate such things as a coffee shop, a day care center, a post office and other government offices. Most importantly, she said, the center would essentially be the hub for all public transit in Colorado Springs, no matter what shape that takes in the coming decades.

The facility would offer traditional fixed-route and express bus service and also feature access to taxi service, the downtown shuttle, called DASH, FREX commuter bus service, bike and pedestrian paths and, most interestingly, railroad tracks that might someday carry commuters along the Front Range.

“We want a facility that will not only serve today and tomorrow’s commuters but their grandchildren,” Ritenour said. “It’s not designed for the moment but for the long term. It will be something friendly, open, airy and multifaceted.”

DETAILS

The city has been talking about a new downtown facility for years. Now it’s applying for state money.

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