(rshsdepot) Tupper Lake, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Adirondack Scenic Railroad gets snubbed by state as $20 million is given to  
other projects
By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise  Staff Writer  
 
POSTED: April 30, 2008 

 
 
TUPPER LAKE — State Transportation Commissioner  Astrid Glynn announced $20 
million in rail funding Monday to go toward 15  projects statewide. Extending 
the Adirondack Scenic Railroad from Saranac Lake  to Tupper Lake was not one of 
them. 

In December 2006, former Gov. George  Pataki promised $5 million to make the 
26 miles of track between the two  villages passable, shortly before he left 
office and was replaced by Eliot  Spitzer. Local officials and others involved 
in the efforts to renovate the  train station and extend the railroad have 
been asking state officials when the  funding will be made available ever since. 

“We don’t know why the  funding was not included,” Dan Mac Entee, spokesman 
for state Sen. Betty Little,  R-Queensbury, said. “However, Sen. Little has 
called the (state) Department of  Transportation and is working on setting up a 
meeting with them to discuss this  and find out what can be done to strengthen 
the next application.”

Mac  Entee said the DOT will be accepting applications for another round of 
grants  next month. He said a project’s potential to encourage economic 
development is  one of the factors the state takes into account when giving out  
grants.

“We think we have a strong case there,” he said. 

Next  Stop! Tupper Lake was founded three years ago to renovate the train 
station on  Depot Street, with the eventual goal of extending the Adirondack 
Scenic Railroad  to Tupper Lake. Currently, it runs one line between Utica and 
Thendara and  another between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, and their ultimate 
goal is to  connect the two. Renovation of the train station is well underway, 
and  supporters of the railroad say extending the line to Tupper Lake will 
bring  increased tourism and economic development. 

“We were told, ‘if we build  it, they will come,’” said Sandra Strader, 
town administrator and a member of  the board of directors of both the Adirondack 
Scenic Railroad and Next Stop!  Tupper Lake. “But the funding isn’t there. 
We built!”

Dan McClelland,  chairman of Next Stop! Tupper Lake, was out of town 
Wednesday and unavailable  for comment. Strader said she spoke with him Tuesday, and 
said she would be  contacting Adirondack Scenic Railroad officials shortly to 
discuss the next  application. 

“We’ll try to work together and see how we can reapply,”  Strader said, “
because this is very important.”

Strader said the  Adirondack Scenic Railroad has a construction contract with 
the DOT and would  manage the funding and supervise the work.

County Legislator Paul Maroun,  R-Tupper Lake, said finishing the entire 
railroad from Lake Placid to Utica  would cost roughly $16 or $17 million. 

“If it were a perfect world,  you’d get the $16 million and do the whole 
line,” he said. “But I guess we’ve  got to try to get the $5 million to go from 
Placid to Tupper first.”

He  said it would be an especially good idea now, with gas prices approaching 
$4 a  gallon.

“The train didn’t used to look appealing, because it was slow,”  he said. “
But you have to drive to Albany to get a train, or Plattsburgh or  Utica, and 
you might want to get on the train in Tupper and take it to Utica  where you 
can get on the Amtrak.” 

None of the projects receiving funding  right now are in the Tri-Lakes area. 
However, Amtrak is set to receive $5  million to subsidize routine operational 
costs on the line running between  Schenectady and Rouses Point, and the town 
of Corinth is $1 million for repairs  to the track between Corinth and 
Saratoga Springs. 

Contact Nathan Brown  at 891-2600 ext. 26 or 
_nbrown_@_adirondackdailyenterprise.com_ (mailto:nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com) 







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