E.L. denied $25M grant to improve rail station

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The city of East Lansing will not receive the $25 million it requested from a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant to renovate the Amtrak station on Harrison Road.

The grant would have upgraded the Amtrak facility and created a public parking structure, a project which city officials view as essential to redeveloping the Trowbridge corridor.

“(It) would have been great not only for the region but also for the Trowbridge corridor,” Councilmember Roger Peters said.

The federal government issued $1.5 billion in TIGER grants, but with nearly $60 billion worth of applications filed, many cities were left disappointed. City officials said they thought they had a good chance to obtain the grant given Amtrak’s Blue Water line — which services Chicago — hit record ridership in fiscal year 2009 with 50,953 of its 265,702 passengers boarding or arriving in East Lansing.

East Lansing officials said Normal, Ill., received $22 million for a similar project, but the central Illinois city is a railroad stop between St. Louis and Chicago, which likely increased its appeal, said Tim Dempsey, East Lansing planning and community development director.

Dempsey said East Lansing should try to connect to other Michigan cities via railroad, such as Detroit, to ally the city with the state’s major destinations.

“Linking East Lansing to other places in the state is important, and we have the ideal opportunity because we’re one location in the region where the line to Chicago and line to Detroit intersect,” he said.

Dempsey said he believes President Barack Obama’s administration will authorize a second round of similar funding given the high demand for TIGER grants. If that occurs, East Lansing will try again.

Two Michigan cities received TIGER grants. Detroit netted a $23 million grant to subsidize its $143 million Woodward Avenue light rail project, and Port Huron got $30 million for its $78.6 million replacement of the Black Water Bridge.

Lori Mullins, East Lansing community and economic development administrator, said the city applied for $7 million in funds from the federal Department of Transportation Appropriations Act. In the absence of large funding like that of the TIGER grant, Mullins said the city will redevelop the Trowbridge corridor in a series of phases. She said the train station, improving parking and circulation near the station and upgrading the train platform will be the main priorities.

Despite not getting funding, Peters said the city, merchants and neighborhood associations near the Trowbridge corridor worked too hard for the past several years for efforts to be derailed.

“When you think about the traffic that enters the city off the expressway there and enters campus there’s a tremendous volume of traffic,” he said. “I think continuing to work on the plan to see how we can redevelop that area can make it a major asset to the city.”

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