Fisher’s Landing is C-Tran’s most heavily used facility, popular not only for transit, but also for public gatherings at the Rose F. Besserman Community Room. The center is served by routes 41, 80, 30, 37, 164, 65, 92 and C-Van.
In 2015, almost 224,000 people used the Portland-going Express Route 164. Route 65, one of C-Tran’s two limited routes that takes passengers from Fisher’s Landing to the Parkrose Transit Center in Portland, had almost 214,300 boardings in 2015.
Selk said she experienced the congestion firsthand as a bus commuter who parked at Fisher’s Landing for 15 years.
“I wouldn’t call it an outright struggle, but I was surprised by how many space were taken by 8 a.m.,” she said.
The $1.7 million expansion is being paid for entirely by a regional mobility grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation. It’s being built on land already owned by C-Tran, so no right-of-way acquisitions were needed. The work is being done by Keystone Contracting of Ridgefield. Through the duration of the project, some parking spaces may be temporarily compromised, but area traffic won’t be adjusted. Construction started in late March and was expected to be finished in the fall, but C-Tran now expects it to be finished at the end of July.
C-Tran is making a number of route changes and facility improvements around Vancouver in preparation for the city’s first Bus Rapid Transit system, The Vine, but the upgrades at Fisher’s Landing are independent of those.
Selk also said C-Tran hasn’t received any negative comments or queries on the project to date.
“I think the folks who live on it see the need; they drive past it every day,” Selk said.