(rshsdepot) FW: New Lawrence [MA] RR Station/Transportation Center

["Kenyon Karl" <kenyon_@_getglobal.net>]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Paul W Chapman [mailto:milepost10_@_juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2002 5:10 PM
Subject: New Lawrence RR Station/Transportation Center


Derry's poet Robert Frost to be honored in new Larence RR Station.  Will
Derry be able to connect to it by 2005 when it opens?

                        Chap


Paul W. Chapman, P.E.
NHRRA
3 Olesen Road
Derry, NH 03038-4847
603-432-1845


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Swift to bring $8M for train hub
By Shawn Regan
Eagle-Tribune Writer
 
LAWRENCE -- The city's new transportation hub will
have the best of both worlds -- a connection to
Lawrence's rich industrial past and the look of a
progressive, 20th-century facility, officials say.
 
On the track side of the station, people arriving in
the city to work or visit will see a modern-looking
structure that says "Lawrence is a city on the move,"
said Joseph J. Costanzo, chief administrator for
Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority.
 
 
The Lawrence commuter train station, located off
Merrimack Street, will be torn down and a new station
will be built nearby under an $8 million proposal by
the state. In this photo, the Downeaster -- which runs
from Boston to Portland, Maine -- hurtles through the
station.
On the sides facing South Union and Merrimack streets,
the transportation center will mirror the historic
architecture of the massive Wood and Ayer mills across
the street, once the largest cotton and wool mills in
the world.
 
Two years since officials began planning for a new
train station and parking garage at the corner of
South Union and Merrimack streets, officials have
secured the full $20 million to build it and are close
to a deal with the property owner, said Thomas D.
Schiavone, the city's acting chief economic
development officer.
 
Gov. Jane M. Swift is scheduled to hand-deliver a
check to city officials Tuesday to pay the final $8
million. The city already has about $12.7 million in
state and federal money set aside, Schiavone said.
 
The proposed facility includes a five-story parking
garage with 900 spaces, terminals for the transit
authority's local and regional bus service, shuttle
service to and from Logan Airport, a police
substation, retail space, interior waiting areas and
taxi stands. A small park is planned on the part of
the property that faces the street, with exhibits
paying homage to local historical figures such as poet
Robert Frost.
 
"It's the biggest project I've ever been involved
with," said Costanzo, who noted that the facility is
about 30 percent designed. "It's going to be the only
one of its kind between here and Newburyport. Lawrence
is going to be the transportation hub for this end of
the valley."
 
The center is earmarked for a vacant lot owned Bert
Paley, who owns the Wood Mill and other buildings in
the area. Schiavone said Paley seems amenable to
selling about 60 percent of the 120,000-square-foot
property in exchange for exclusive use of a portion of
the parking garage.
 
Construction is expected to last 18 months and start
in the spring of 2003, Costanzo said. The facility
will replace the existing train station about a
half-mile away at the intersection of Merrimack and
Parker streets.
 
The center is expected to bolster the city's
multifaceted Gateway development. The Gateway project
seeks a variety of aesthetic and traffic improvements
in the Gateway District, located minutes by foot from
the proposed transportation hub.
 
"Commuters coming into the city will be able to get
off the train and walk to their office in less than
five minutes," Schiavone said. "This is a going to be
a huge boon for the city and show people outside the
city that Lawrence is moving forward."
 
 


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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