Renovations to E.L. Amtrak station possible after U.S. Senate approves $2.5M in funding
By Pat Evans (Last updated: 07/29/10 5:30pm)Plans to renovate the East Lansing Amtrak station are on the right track after the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved last week allocating the station $2.5 million.
East Lansing originally had asked for $7 million in funding under the bill, but was granted $2.5 million in a spending bill for the departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and other agencies.
City officials hope the full Senate and House approve the appropriations bill so the 35-year-old Amtrak Station, 1240 S. Harrison Road, can be redeveloped as a multi-modal transit center that could anchor new, yet-to-be-determined business developments in the southern portion of East Lansing.
“The intention is to redevelop the station and provide better access to the transit system,” East Lansing Councilmember Nathan Triplett said. “The transit hub would serve to spur the economic development in that area of East Lansing.”
The station currently serves Amtrak trains and a bus stop for Greyhound Lines Inc. and Indian Trails Inc.
Part of the goal of upgrading the station would be to accommodate a train ridership that has more than doubled since 2006, said Lori Mullins, East Lansing’s community and economic development administrator.
Mullins said the facility also would act as a better welcome center to the city and provide more secure parking in a new parking garage that possibly would be constructed using the funds.
The planned project is expected to cost upward of $20 million, and the city is searching for other means to fund the project, including an application for a $13.5 million grant from the second round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, program.
The city would contribute infrastructure improvements to Harrison Road and MSU, which owns the site, would contribute the property. Any additional funds needed would be sought at the federal, state and local levels.
Triplett said the city had applied in September 2009 to fund the whole project through the first phase of TIGER, but was denied the $25 million grant it sought.
The new transit center would attract even more riders for the trains and buses, Mayor Vic Loomis said.
“The center would be a big plus for MSU, the city and, really, the region,” Loomis said. “I suspect more people would use it if we upgrade it.”
Triplett said too much focus is on the train station and that the larger goal of the project is to act as an economic redevelopment project for the area.
A printing building on the property would be renovated and created into a wetlab research space, acting as a center for research and job growth, Mullins said.
Originally Published: 07/29/10 5:30pm
Student
07/29/10 5:55pmIt’s about time. The Amtrak/Greyhound station is old and dilapidated. I hate catching the bus there. This would be great for the city of East Lansing and I hope this building begins soon!
Eliot Singer
07/30/10 9:58amLast year the city hyped its application for the TIGER grant, with lots of press, at the time of the application, not so much when it was turned down, which is how the propaganda machine works.
At the time of the application so many people pointed out the obvious, even the Lansing State Journal, which goes out of its way to facilitate East Lansing propaganda, wrote a critical editorial.
Anyone who actually uses the train knows the Bluewater Limited and Pere Marquette are only still running because the state has provided subsidies to AMTRAK, and every year, with the state broke, these subsidies are touch and go.
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Really necessary?
07/30/10 7:21amI’ve never understood why people think the current station is so terrible (and I catch trains and buses there dozens of times a year). That said, it does seem like it could use a capacity boost, as the people waiting for a train frequently overflow out of the building. But if we do this, let’s try to do it on the cheap and not create a “New Farm Lane” or “New Brody” sort of extravagance.
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SIGP226
07/30/10 8:31amGreat.
More money tossed down a rat-hole after the AMTRAK beast.
Eliot Singer
07/30/10 10:41amP.S.
Parking at the AMTRAK station is currently free, unlike parking at the airport. With yet another East Lansing parking structure, the cost of parking for a long trip could well exceed the roundtrip fare to Chicago.
Re: Really Necessary?
07/30/10 4:14pmClearly, it’s the tea partiers that are running this country into the ground not the people in congress taxing us all. You’ve been watching too much CNN and left-wing propoganda. The tea partiers have no political power in this country so how can they be at fault for any problems that we currently have.
-Personally I don’t see the point of this project. If the first bus station was a success then there should already be funds for its renovation. Instead the government is funding a project that would otherwise fail by increasing taxes on all of us. Including me and I’m barely making it through college as it is.
Eric
07/30/10 6:37pmThe is an other bus lobby project with a Amtrak name on it. You know the people who run on public highways and use public terminals like this one. Get buses bought for them by the states. Get grants for routes.Don’t pay fuel taxes. Then the uniformed people rail against Amtrak. A new station is nice. But It could be used for more equipment. Amtrak because of record breaking ridership had a extra 29 million ot spend on new passenger cars.
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Eliot Singer
07/30/10 7:25pmI’m going to chime in again, even if there is no one out there.
You can be a proponent of AMTRAK and train travel, which I am, and still question this project.
First, the money is from HUD. If the city wants to get our Senators to push for some HUD money, is renovating the train station a top priority?
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Maria
07/31/10 12:20amHa ha, funny story, Amtrak and Greyhound agents have already been cutting down on open hours, because they don’t get enough business to justify being open! “The transit hub?” Sorry, I don’t think you’ll get more usage unless the location changes. “I suspect” is not good enough for playing around with 2.5million . The city AT LEAST needs to conduct surveys of residents and arriving passengers to see what effect a new station has on their travel habits.
Once again, the State News bites...
08/02/10 12:32pmWow, are the “journalists” at the State News so unable to find true news stories that they now reprint government propaganda without adding any independent critical thought? Anyone who has used Amtrak knows it is hanging on by a thread in East Lansing; it is will NEVER become the center of any transportation hub. Maybe the SN reporters should go back to covering the opening of new grocery stores and the 100th birthdays of local residents – because that’s the level of journalism they appear capable of handling.
PD
08/05/10 12:54pmCity officials hope the full Senate and House approve the appropriations bill so the 35-year-old Amtrak Station, 1240 S. Harrison Road, can be redeveloped as a multi-modal transit center that could anchor new, yet-to-be-determined business developments in the southern portion of East Lansing.
Muti-modal transit center to anchor yet to be determined new businesses. Sounds like typical BS. East Lansing is not a transportation hub. Lansing is not a transportation hub. The Capitol City “international” airport is smaller than most civil aviation airports. What a joke. Arrogance and politics at its best!