(rshsdepot) Lafayette, LA

["Jim Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

=46rom The Advocate...

Officials say train depot renovation should get under way in August
By ANGELA SIMONEAUX
Acadiana bureau

LAFAYETTE =97 The renovation of the city=92s old train depot should start=
 within
the next month.

The refurbishment of the historic building, which will be used as a city
transit office, a waiting room for city bus passengers and for Amtrak
passengers, is the first phase of a planned multimodal facility in downto=
wn.

The facility has been in the planning stages for 10 years.

The facility eventually will include a city bus station, a Greyhound bus
station, a post office and the city-parish Traffic and Transportation
Department, said Tony Tramel, director of the department.

The depot, which was in disrepair for several years and also was damaged =
by
fire, will be restored to its former appearance, he said.

"We=92re going to restore the original walls. It will look like the old
station looked," Tramel said. "It was a very serious consideration up unt=
il
we recommended awarding the contract to tear it down. But the people in t=
he
community said this is one of the few things we have in Lafayette that
people can remember what it used to be like."

Inside the building, Amtrak passengers as well as city bus passengers wil=
l
have a rest area. The transit administrative offices will be housed in th=
e
depot, and the building will feature some of the history of the railroad,
Tramel said.

"Our intention is to make sure the history is preserved," Tramel said.

Although funding for the restoration of the building and part of its cano=
py
has been secured, the city-parish may need help from local businesses for
another aspect of the plan, planning director Mike Hollier said.

The elaborate posts that held up the canopy years ago still stand along t=
he
tracks in front of the depot, but there=92s not enough money in the budge=
t to
extend the canopy the full length, Hollier said. City-Parish officials ar=
e
talking about asking local businesses or families to donate funds to
refurbish portions of the canopy, he said.

Before the end of the year a contract should be let for the next phase of
the facility, a saw-tooth-designed terminal for the city=92s buses, Trame=
l
said. The design will allow buses to pull into the terminal, so passenger=
s
can disembark under a canopy. The buses then can pull forward and out of =
the
terminal, Tramel explained.

In order to construct that part of the facility, half of the existing Pos=
tal
Square building will have to be torn down, Tramel said. That won=92t affe=
ct
the public portions of the One-Stop Shop or the post office, he added.

Eventually the entire Postal Square building will be torn down to make ro=
om
for a saw-tooth terminal for Greyhound, as well as offices and waiting ar=
eas
for Greyhound, a branch of the U.S. Postal Service and all the city=92s
Traffic and Transportation Department. There will be a building for
Greyhound attached by an atrium to another, larger building for city-pari=
sh
offices and the post office, Hollier said.

The parking lots around the buildings will mirror the paving and landscap=
ing
of the Streetscape project on Jefferson, and will include a pedestrian
gateway featuring the flags of Lafayette=92s sister cities around the wor=
ld,
Hollier said.
The completion date of the entire $11 million project is unknown, as fede=
ral
funding has not yet been appropriated for the remaining phases of the
facility, Tramel said.

"That depends on Congress," he said.

City-parish government has provided some of the funding, and additional
money has been obtained from the Federal Transit Administration and the
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

------------------------------