(rshsdepot) Scranton, PA (CNJ)

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Times-Tribune.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
    Three  city projects to coincide   BY  DAVID SINGLETON
STAFF WRITER
 
One is a remnant of the city’s transportation past; the other represents  its 
transportation future. Fittingly, there’s a bridge in between.

The  confluence of three projects will transform the western end of 
Lackawanna Avenue  into a bustling construction zone by the end of the year and into  
2008.

When it’s all over, the 116-year-old Central New Jersey depot will  be 
transformed into a restaurant and retail complex, and the new Scranton  Intermodal 
Transportation Center will be the place to catch a bus or get a taxi  downtown.

Spanning the Lackawanna River and linking the two projects will  be the 
rebuilt Lackawanna Avenue Bridge.

“It’s going to be a pretty busy  end of town,” said Kurt Kempter, 
development director for the County of  Lackawanna Transit System, which is building the 
$11 million intermodal  center.

The Central New Jersey depot at West Lackawannna and North Sixth  avenues is 
where the public is likely to see the first  activity.

Developer Jerry Donahue, who heads the partnership that bought  the landmark 
in 2000, said bids for the masonry work will be sought soon,  followed by bids 
for the general contracting work.

“What we are doing is  going through and dotting the I’s and crossing the T’
s with the expectation  construction will begin in 2007,” he said.

After $4.45 million worth of  renovations, the depot is expected to open in 
November 2008.

COLTS is  also aiming for a November 2008 opening for the long-awaited, 
6,500-square-foot  intermodal center, which will serve as a hub for COLTS and 
commercial buses,  along with taxis and — if passenger rail service to New York is 
ever restored —  commuter trains.

It will be built on the southern side of Lackawanna  Avenue on a 2.24-acre 
site that is now the parking lot for the State Office  Building.

Legislation authorizing the sale of the property to COLTS  breezed through 
the General Assembly last spring, and state officials are now  reviewing the 
paperwork.

COLTS bid the project in June 2006, when state  approval of the sale appeared 
imminent, but it will have to be bid again because  of the time lapse, Mr. 
Kempter said. That won’t happen until the deed is  transferred.

“We’re going to wait until everything is in order and we  have actual 
possession of the land,” said Mr. Kempter, adding the agency wants  to start 
construction by November.

The final project, reconstruction of  the Lackawanna Avenue Bridge, is also 
likely to go out to bid this fall, Mayor  Chris Doherty said.

The state Department of Transportation, which is  administering the estimated 
$3 million project for the city, anticipates it will  be completed within 18 
months.

The bridge will be closed during  construction. Alternative routes for 
traffic to and from West Scranton have  already been devised.

“This is ready to go,” Mr. Doherty said. “It’s  going be a big project.”

Contact the writer:  dsingleton_@_timesshamrock.com  



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1586
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
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