The Central Ohio Transit Authority plans to study at least eigth more bus rapid transit lines funded by last fall's LinkUs sales tax increase.
COTA said previously it wants to build at least five total BRT corridors with its 1% sales tax levy that voters approved in November. COTA is already designing three routes, two of which go east and west through downtown along West Broad Street and East Main Street. A third goes northwest from downtown Columbus to Dublin.
A progress report released this month shows three more routes are being studied for near-term planning, two of which go near Columbus' airports. The three go northeast towards Gahanna, southeast towards Groveport and one on the north side that goes laterally from Dublin to New Albany.
Five more are shown on a map that are planned for future study, stretching from downtown to locations such as Worthington, Westerville, Upper Arlington, Grove City and Hilliard.
These bus routes would host dedicated bus lanes on at least part of the route that COTA said will mean faster commute times for riders.
The progress report also gave updates on the three routes in design. They range from being 20% done with design to more than 80% done with the design phase.
The $350 million West Broad Street route is expected to start construction in early 2026 and open for service in late 2028. The $340 million East Main Street route is estimated to open in 2029 while the $185 million Northwest route would open in 2031.
This year, the sales tax is expected to bring in $104 million of revenue out of over $6 billion expected in total between now and 2050.
