COTA Advances West Broad Bus Rapid Transit to Final Engineering as LinkUS Expands Clean Fleet Operations

West Broad Rapid Transit Corridor Reaches 90 Percent Engineering Milestone

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Demonstrating major momentum for Central Ohio's largest transit initiative, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and regional LinkUS partners announced that the West Broad Street Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project attained 90% final design completion in October 2026. The corridor successfully cleared the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) rigorous Capital Investment Grant Risk Assessment review, securing a vital prerequisite for federal construction grant allocation.

Stretching nine miles from downtown Columbus through Franklinton and Westland, the West Broad corridor will incorporate dedicated center-running bus lanes, elevated passenger boarding stations, and transit signal priority technology to ensure 10-minute peak travel times. Project engineers confirmed that full construction mobilization is scheduled to begin in 2027.

Engineering Firm Mobilizes for Northwest Corridor as Clean Fleet Expands

Simultaneously, global infrastructure engineering firm GFT formally mobilized its design team in October 2026 to direct engineering and construction management oversight for the LinkUS Northwest BRT corridor. The route will connect downtown Columbus with the Ohio State University campus, Dublin, and high-density employment centers in northwest Franklin County.

To accommodate surging regional ridership, COTA also integrated dozens of newly delivered Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses into regular rotation. The low-emission vehicles support enhanced service offerings, including the newly introduced Line 30 seven-day schedule linking Hilliard and Upper Arlington with the urban core, alongside updated accessible booking tools on the COTA Mainstream platform.

City Council Approves Pedestrian and Bicycle Trail Capital Allocations

Reinforcing multimodal connectivity, the Columbus City Council authorized capital funding packages for neighborhood sidewalk completions and multi-use trail expansions connecting residential blocks directly to planned rapid transit stations.