U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and dozens of local and state officials crowded under the shade of a tent cover under the hot noon sun Monday to celebrate a $20 million federal grant that will create an indoor transit center for Gwinnett County bus riders.
The Gwinnett County Transit Center just west of the Gwinnett Place Mall near Duluth is now a parking lot with a few covered benches where buses pull in and out. But the county recently secured the grant, under a program created in 2021 by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to build a new transit center as part of an overall planned transit expansion.
“Ride Gwinnett passengers don’t have a facility to sit under ... in a day like today to cool off, or to use the restroom, or passengers, you know, don’t have a place where they can get information on routes throughout the community,” McBath said at the news conference. “On a day like today, I think we can all agree that transit users in Georgia’s most diverse and fastest growing county deserve a modern facility to call their own.”
Gwinnett County will suppliment the $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant with $5 million of its own funds, said Lewis Cooksey, director of the county’s transportation department. The money will create a transit center four times the size of the current space, anchored by a two-story building with customer service, restrooms, a break area for bus drivers and offices, county officials said. There will be an attached mobility building for people with disabilities where riders will be able to seek assistance and qualify for paratransit services; 12 bus bays with overhead canopies; real-time displays and seating; and bays with electric vehicle charging, said Ben Ku, vice chairman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Gwinnett County is in the process of expanding its bus system, including a new route that beginning next month will leave from the transit center and travel through Lilburn to the Amazon facility near Stone Mountain. The county expects ridership at the new transit hub to double and at least seven routes will pass through it, county officials said.
The county and the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (ATL) are collaborating to transition Gwinnett’s bus fleet to zero emissions, Ku said.
The new transit center complements the redevelopment of the dying mall, which gave Gwinnett County’s application a leg up among the 1,100 grant applications nationwide, said U.S. Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Christopher Coes. McBath and Ossoff wrote letters of support for the grant application.
With nearly 1 million people and growing across 437 square miles, Gwinnett County has among the highest transportation insecurity rates in the country according to indicators of transportation disadvantage, Coes said.
“This expands opportunity and connectivity,” Ossoff said. “This expects the real freedom people have to live their lives as they see fit, to pursue their dreams and support their families.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
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