Everett Transit studying locations for new operations base
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 21, 2026
EVERETT — Everett Transit is studying three possible locations to build a new facility to serve as an operations base for the municipal transit agency.
The existing facility is currently located at 3225 Cedar Street in Everett, just to the east of Everett Station. It’s about 2.4 acres in size with two buildings, an operations building and maintenance shop, built in 1972.
The transit agency is looking for an area about 7 to 9 acres in size to build the new facility, including both an operations building for administrative employees and a new maintenance facility, according to an online open house published by the agency last week.
The new facilities, according to the open house, will include new office spaces, a new bus wash, new fueling and charging systems to support battery or hydrogen-powered vehicles, as well as room to grow over the next 30 years.
One option listed in the open house is to build an expanded facility where the operations facility is currently located, though the relative cost to build it would likely be “very high,” according to Everett Transit. That’s because the transit agency would have to find temporary charging and maintenance facilities during construction, as well as required demolitions of buildings and remediation of contaminated soil.
Another option is to build the facility in the Everett Point Industrial Center, a industrial complex located next to the Snohomish River. That location would require a longer drive for bus operators after they complete their routes compared to the other two sites, but there is more space to build on the property and the cost of construction would be relatively low.
The location, a former floodplain, would require some special engineering as it could be susceptible to liquefaction, which occurs during earthquakes when loosely packed sediment loses its strength due to the shaking ground.
The third location, at 4225 South 3rd Ave. in Everett, would be the shortest drive for operators making their way back to the facility after completing their routes. Construction of that property, however, would also be very high due to the need to stabilize steep slopes, as well as the need to mitigate impacts to nearby wetlands. The open house called the location “highly constrained for effective transit operations.”
The agency is accepting feedback on the three possible locations through May 17. The open house is available online: et-moab.com.
Everett Transit’s recently approved long-range plan estimated the cost of the new operations base at about $100 million and the new maintenance facility at about $75 million. It expects to recommend a preferred location by the end of June.
Everett is considering merging Everett Transit with Community Transit through an interlocal agreement which could come to a city council vote later this year. The study of potential sites will continue regardless of which way the possible merger vote goes, city spokesperson Jason Kelly wrote in an email Thursday.
“While the city is engaged in conversations with Community Transit about system consolidation, it is clear there is a need to add capacity to serve growing transit operations in Everett,” Kelly wrote. “This is true regardless which agency would be operating buses in Everett in the future.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
