The Utah Transit Authority has received a $250,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration for design and engineering of the new intermodal transit center to be built in Orem.

The funds are part of a discretionary grant awarded to UTA for the development of transit centers along the Wasatch Front, according to a news release.

The $10 million Orem Intermodal Center will serve FrontRunner commuter rail from Provo to Salt Lake City by 2012 or 2013. It will also serve UTA buses and a proposed Provo-Orem bus rapid transit line connecting Utah Valley University with Brigham Young University and downtown Provo. The intermodal center will be located west of UVU across the freeway near Geneva Road.

Paul Goodrich, Orem's city transportation engineer, said the $250,000 will be used to construct a parking lot and access road to the intermodal center from Geneva Road for the future transportation center.

"We'd been planning on it for years," he said.

Seed money for phase one of the project has also been contributed by the Mountainland Association of Governments, he said.

The city of Orem doesn't know yet at this point how much it will have to spend for its FrontRunner station that will be part of the intermodal center, Goodrich said. That will depend on the size and scope of the building based on agreements with other potential partners who may want office space or classrooms in the structure, such as UTA or UVU.

"The new Orem Intermodal Center will be a key transfer point for the residents of Utah County," said UTA general manager John Inglish.