The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) has been awarded $32.84 million in grant funding for a project in Glenwood Springs from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Low- and No-Emissions program. 

The multi-phase project will modernize the Glenwood Springs Operations and Maintenance Facility to support its planned zero-emission bus fleet, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s grant application.

RFTA Chief Operating Officer Kurt Ravenschlag, who will be named CEO in September, described the Glenwood Springs facility as a “campus” containing several facilities, three of which the grant will fund to completion: the RFTA West Glenwood Springs Transit Center/Mobility Hub, the RFTA Maintenance Operations, Training, and Administration Center, and the Zero Emission Vehicle Equipment Storage Facility, all of which are currently in various stages of design. 

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The expansion project will be located around the site of the West Glenwood Park & Ride. Ravenschlag said the three newest facilities, which make up phases 6-8 of the project, are estimated to begin construction in 2025, with completion estimated for 2027.

“We have about 10 phases of expanding that property to really prepare us for the future in serving the transportation needs of the communities we serve, as well as preparing for the future … and most importantly, preparing us to make a transition to a zero emission future,” Ravenschlag said.

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Roughly 80% of the project’s overall cost of $120 million has been paid through several grants. The nearly $33 million FTA grant is the largest RFTA has ever received, according to Blankenship.

“It’s really exciting, it’s a huge grant,” said RFTA Board Chair Shelley Kaup. “The Federal Transit Administration really had kind words for RFTA in awarding this grant, and we’re so thankful to senators (Michael) Bennet and (John) Hickenlooper because their advocacy has been crucial.”

The grant will require a $8.2 million local match, which Ravenschlag said the RFTA board has already committed to providing.

Funding for zero-emission projects

RFTA is slowly but steadily approaching their goal of operating a fully zero-emission fleet by 2050. Currently, of the organization’s 120 operational vehicles, eight are battery-electric buses, with plans to purchase 10 more for delivery between 2025-2026.

“Moving forward, most all of our new purchases, of our rolling stock or buses, we plan for those to be zero emission,” Ravenschlag said.

RFTA began the process for revamping the Glenwood Springs Maintenance Facility in late 2021 to both serve future administrative needs and provide adequate charging infrastructure to expand the reach of zero-emission buses on higher-ridership routes and provide access to disadvantaged communities. 

The project funding is part of nearly $52 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently accepted by Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper with the goal of improving and modernizing bus systems across the state. 

The funding includes nine grants from DOT’s Bus and Bus Facilities Grant Program and the Low- or No-Emission Grant Program, with funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to a July 9 news release from Bennet’s office.  

The senators sent letters in support of three of the projects awarded. 

Of the nine projects in Colorado that were awarded funding, six through the Bus and Bus Facilities Grant Program and three through the Low- or No-Emission Grant Program, the Glenwood Springs project received the greatest amount of funding at nearly $32.84 million. The second-largest was awarded to a project in Gypsum at $4.57 million. 

Nationally, 117 grants totaling approximately $1.5 billion were awarded from the 2024 fiscal year, with RFTA’s award being the eighth highest, according to RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship’s letter to the RFTA Board of Directors on Tuesday. 

“In total, approximately $1.5 billion in grants were awarded and, typically, application requests exceed the funding available by a factor of five or more. As such, it goes without saying that the award of this grant to RFTA would not have been possible without the vital support of Senators Hickenlooper and Bennet,” Blankenship wrote in his letter. 

RFTA first applied for the grant back in March, after which organization leaders traveled to Washington D.C. to discuss the project with the FTA. RFTA received notice of the award during the first week of July.

“We did put a lot of effort into trying to convey the importance (of the project) to the various officials and decision-makers of this grant, and we hoped that those efforts would pay off with a grant award,” Ravenschlag said. “So when we got this news, we were definitely very excited and happy to see that those efforts paid off.”

FTA’s Low-and No-Emission program, the one behind RFTA’s awarded funds, makes funding available to help transit agencies buy or lease U.S.-built low- or no-emission vehicles (including buses and vans), make facility and station upgrades to accommodate low- or no-emission vehicles, and buy supporting equipment like battery electric charging, according to an FTA news release. Approximately $1.1 billion was available for grants under this program for Fiscal Year 2024. 

“This was really kind of the final piece to help position RFTA to be able to serve the transportation needs of this region for the next 10, 20, 30 years, and be able to do that with a zero emission future,” Ravenschlag said. “So that’s really why we’re so excited that we’re able now to put the plans that we’ve had in place into action … I just want to make sure that it’s noted the appreciation that we have for the leadership of our board of directors, our state delegation, for the Federal Transit Administration, in providing this award.”