Office of Rep. Marilyn Strickland announcement.
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) secured $3,000,000 in federal funding for Pierce Transit’s Spanaway Transit Center and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Station Completion (at Pacific Avenue/SR 7 BRT route’s southern terminus) for the federal Fiscal Year ending September 30, 2022. With this funding, the Spanaway Transit Center will serve working families.
“As a long-time advocate of public transit, I am proud to deliver federal resources to make it more accessible for those who need it most,” said Congresswoman Strickland. “This key transit corridor will increase access and connection to transit throughout the South Sound for seniors, students, and working families.”
”Pierce Transit is extremely grateful to Congresswoman Strickland for her support of our local transit system here in Pierce County,” said Pierce Transit CEO Mike Griffus. “The funds provided for a new Transit Center and Park & Ride in the Spanaway area will help us deliver equitable, easy access to more transit riders, and serve those who will ride our new Bus Rapid Transit line when it comes online in a few years.”
Pierce Transit’s service area in Pierce County includes 12 federally recognized Opportunity Zones, which are Census Tracts identified as Low-Income Communities. Six of those Opportunity Zones are served directly by the BRT route originating from the Spanaway Transit Center. The newly designed transit center will serve some communities that are in need of access to public transit the most. The design of Pierce Transit’s Stream BRT network aligns with the pattern of essential jobs, meaning transit-dependent residents will have access to faster, more frequent, and easily accessible stations and routes.
This project is one of eight WA-10 Community Project Funding (CPF) requests that were signed into law as part of H.R. 2471, the FY22 omnibus appropriations package. In total, Strickland secured $12.55 million for the South Sound to support pedestrian accessibility, transit-oriented development, housing, clean water, South Sound veterans, at-risk youth, Tribal nations, families, and workers.
