The City of Cedar Rapids applied for a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant and was awarded with a grant in 2002 for the potential ITF. The very first site for ITF was located in the 300 block of 1st and 2nd Avenues SE, which is currently a surface parking lot. The plan for this site was abandoned because of its size and other limitations. The ˝ block site at the 600 block of Second Street was purchased by the City of Cedar Rapids in 2005 for the potential ITF. The City Council at that time was interested in building an ITF at this site as a supplement to current Ground Transportation Center (GTC) rather than a substitute.
The ITF project was put on hold by the City Council in May of 2007 to begin further examination. Based on the report submitted to City Council by the Consultant and GTC-ITF task force, City Council directed staff to begin a new feasibility study in November of 2007 for a new facility to replace existing GTC. As part of a Downtown Area Plan, an ITF task force was formed to look at the potential sites for new ITF and perform a feasibility study of identified potential sites. The Corridor MPO has been acting as the consultant in the creation of the “Feasibility Study” for the Intermodal Transportation Facility (ITF) to be located in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Under the direction of Cedar Rapids city council 26 separate locations (Link to a map of identified 26 sites) were thoroughly examined for their ability to meet the needs of all metro area transit users currently and well into the future. From that original 26 sites Cedar Rapids City Council, through an iterative process, narrowed their selection to four sites. The Cedar Rapids City Council at their meeting on April 23rd 2008 selected site # 26 (aka Loftus Distributing) on 3rd St SE (Link to a map with narrowed 4 sites and final site) as the final site for a future Intermodal Transportation Facility.