(rshsdepot) Paradise, PA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Intelligencer Journal 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Cost of Amtrak station skyrockets 
By JAMES BUESCHER, Correspondent Intelligencer Journal 
Published: Aug 22, 2007 1:38 AM EST  
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -  
Because of requirements relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the  
cost of an Amtrak station proposed for Paradise Township has soared to $10  
million.  
``We here in Paradise have no problems with the spirit of the Americans with  
Disabilities Act,`` supervisor Dennis Groff said. `` … The problem is that 
the  legislation leaves no room for compromise.  
``Ten million dollars is a lot of money. Plenty of people would benefit from  
having a station here, even those with disabilities,`` Groff said. ``So, how  
would handicapped folks benefit if the station can`t be built at all?``  
Originally, Groff said, Paradise had chosen to build the station near Pequea  
Lane, but because the township wanted the Strasburg Rail Road to be a part of 
 the project, supervisors proposed the station be on Leaman Avenue, near 
Eshleman  Run.  
However, in March, reports surfaced that officials from the Federal Railroad  
Administration in Washington, D.C., were stepping in to put a halt to the  
proposed station because it was not compliant with regulations stemming from the 
 Americans with Disabilities Act, in part because of the construction of the  
station on a curve in the tracks.  
Because that site wasn`t ADA-compliant, Groff said, a new site was chosen: a  
railroad overpass near the intersection of Ambassador Drive and Route 30. It 
is  the cost of making this new site ADA-compliant, Groff said, that is making 
the  price tag for building the new station skyrocket from $2.4 million to an 
 estimated $10 million.  
First approved in July 2004, the proposed Paradise railroad stop would serve  
trains bound for Philadelphia, New York and Harrisburg on Amtrak`s Keystone  
Corridor line.  
When the project was originally approved, supervisors chairman Kevin  
McClarigan said it would be a joint $2.4 million venture between Amtrak, the  state 
Department of Transportation, Paradise Township, the county, Red Rose  Transit 
Authority and Strasburg Rail Road.  
Plans for the station have been in the works since the early 1990s, when  
Paradise`s Plain communities began requesting a more convenient railroad stop  
than Amtrak`s station in Lancaster city.  
The estimated $10 million figure is part of a recent report by the  
Philadelphia office of the global engineering design firm URS. Titled  ``Alternative 
Site Analysis for the Paradise Rail Station,`` the report labels  the Route 30 
overpass site as the ``preferred alternative,`` calling for a  single-platform 
station to be constructed between the two sets of train tracks,  along with an 
elevator.  
The report, contracted out at a cost of $40,000, also examines several other  
site alternatives, including the original site on Pequea Lane and the 
compromise  site on Leaman Avenue.  
The report also proposes two other construction sites: one at the  
intersection of Belmont Road and Route 30 and the other on the southeast side of  
McIlvaine Road, close to where it crosses the Lincoln Highway.  
However, Groff said, the problem with those two sites is that their location  
would preclude participation from Strasburg Rail Road.  
``We`ve had the site analysis done and sent it off to (the Federal Railroad  
Administration in) Washington, D.C., just as we were required to do. However,  
$10 million is more than we imagined the station would cost … so we`re in the 
 process of contacting U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts to see if we can get the law 
changed  somehow, or at the very least, to get a special exception granted,`` Groff 
said.  
Having a train station in Paradise, he said, is ``good for everybody.``  
``It reduces traffic congestion on Route 30, and in this day and age, public  
transportation needs to be considered more seriously,`` he said. ``It helps  
improve air quality and lets tourists come here without using the roads.`` 



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