By Andrew Cass, The News-Herald

The construction work at Lakeland Community College resulting from the $40 million bond issue passed by voters in November necessitates the demolition of the clock tower drop-off and pickup areas currently used by Laketran. The community college and transit agency are discussing the creation of a new transfer center to replace the old loop.

“It’s an opportunity for us and Lakeland to work together to do something a little bit nicer than they have today,” Laketran Operations Manager Ben Capelle said. While the details are still being worked out, the plan will take the buses out of the main traffic circle and gives them a place to lay over and board passengers, Capelle said.“It also helps Lakeland because it gets our buses out of the way,” he said. “Right now, the traffic circle is very congested because it wasn’t designed originally to handle all of the traffic it currently handles.”

Laketran’s Board of Trustees Jan. 25 gave the agency the green light to submit an application to the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency for a Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative grant, which would be used to help pay for some of the cost of the new transit center. The grant is 100 percent federal funds and does not require any matching funds from Laketran.

The final costs for the proposed project have yet to be determined as is the amount the agency will ask for from NOACA.

“Our target is $300,000,” Capelle said. “We don’t have an exact number right now because Lakeland is still in the process of looking through everything and they will be the main contributor of money anyway.”

Currently, Laketran averages 60,000 Lakeland student rides per year and is the agency’s third biggest stop.

Lakeland held a public hearing about the new transit center at Lakeland Jan. 20. Through the public hearing and an online survey, students indicated that they feel the project will be of “great benefit” and 23 percent of those surveyed indicated that if a high-quality multimodal transit center were present, they would consider riding Lakeland more.