The city is applying for more federal grants for the Holland Road widening project, seeking a vendor to operate a public transit system and continuing to express its interest in a passenger rail stop in Suffolk, City Council members heard during the first day of their retreat Wednesday.

Those are among the top transportation issues on which staff members are focusing their attention. The bevy of projects also includes the new U.S. Route 460 alignment (see related story), widening of Nansemond Parkway and keeping tabs on a potential “Third Crossing” that could connect to the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel on Interstate 664.

With construction under way and a tenant lined up at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center on Holland Road (see related story), the widening project on that roadway has a new sense of urgency.

The city has applied for a third round of federal “TIGER” grants for the road, having struck out in the first two rounds of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants.

The application has received the endorsement of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, Public Works Director Eric Nielsen reported to the City Council on Wednesday.

On the public transit front, the city expects to have a vendor in the next two months to take over from Hampton Roads Transit. The city’s agreement with HRT ends on Dec. 31.

HRT had been considering cutting two of Suffolk’s four routes when the city decided to save money by seeking an alternative to participating in HRT. Ridership numbers on all four routes were among the lowest in the HRT system, Nielsen said.

“The overall goal here is to get the best public transit system we can for the city,” Mayor Linda T. Johnson said.

Major construction should be starting soon on Nansemond Parkway, which could necessitate the creation of temporary roads to route traffic around the work zone. The city will try to communicate with the public as much as possible when and where the major delays will be, Nielsen said.

As for passenger rail, the city has been angling for a stop in Suffolk on the proposed railway between Norfolk and Petersburg. City staff have had meetings with Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation officials and anticipate more meetings in the future, Nielsen said.

“We’d like to see a stop in Suffolk,” he said. “They’ve heard us, they know our desires, and we are optimistic.”

The proposed Third Crossing, to be called Patriot’s Crossing, would connect Interstates 64 and 564 in Norfolk with the bridge-tunnel on Interstate 664. The project still is under study by the Virginia Department of Transportation, but city leaders are eyeing the project because of valuable land nearby that is planned for commercial development.