NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- Rock Region Metro has been awarded $5.4 million in its largest competitive grant award to date.
The U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant funds will go toward a planned transit-oriented development at the River Cities Travel Center on East Capitol Ave in Little Rock.
This is the first RAISE grant Arkansas’ largest public transit agency has received.
The River Cities Travel Center opened in 2000 after several years of planning work and is the agency’s sole transit station and the only transit station in Pulaski County serving local intra-city transit service.
“METRO not only improved the transit passenger experience but also downtown Little Rock when the travel center was built on the city block between 4th Street & Capitol Avenue and Rock & Cumberland Streets, spurring development along surrounding streets,” Rock Region METRO chief executive officer Justin Avery said.
The next steps will involve more planning work, including a public outreach campaign to inform and shape preliminary concepts into more concrete plans, as well as the development of a request for information for various developers to build on the established market feasibility of various proposals for the project.
The River Cities Travel Center project is included in the final Little Rock Master Plan.