The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has recently announced that the Trillium CNG team, which includes Larson Design Group of Williamsport, has been selected for the department's Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transit fueling station Public-Private Partnership (P3) project.

Trillium CNG, a provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling services as well as a single-source provider of CNG fueling facilities, will design, build, finance, operate and maintain CNG filling stations at 29 public transit agency sites through a 20 year agreement. Each fueling site must provide access to CNG for public transit and other CNG vehicles.

Stations will be constructed over the next five years and the firm will also make CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities. The project has a total investment of US$84.5 million.

As part of Trillium's proposal, CNG fueling will be accessible to the public at seven transit agency sites, with the option to add to additional sites in the future. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will receive a 15 percent royalty for each gallon of fuel sold to the public, which will be used to support the cost of the project. Trillium CNG team has guaranteed at least US$2.1 million in royalties over the term of the agreement.

 Leslie S. Richards, Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said:

"The department is excited to partner on this project that will bring benefits for the state, our transit partners and the public for years to come. The project's aggressive schedule means that we'll realize cost, environmental and operational benefits quickly. With Pennsylvania's natural gas resources, this project will not only bring efficiencies for transit agencies and the state, but we're also helping establish a foothold for the CNG transportation market in areas that may not have seen this opportunity for some time."