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(rshsdepot) Elyria, OH
From The Chronicle-Telegram.
Original article at:
_http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/03/06/federal-stimulus-money-going-to-depot-pr
oject_122/_
(http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/03/06/federal-stimulus-money-going-to-depot-project_122/)
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Federal stimulus money going to depot project
Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — Lorain County will receive about $3.6 million in federal stimulus
money to fund capital improvements for mass-transit projects.
That means the county will speed up its efforts to renovate the old New York
Central Railroad Station in Elyria, county Administrator Jim Cordes said
Thursday.
The county approved spending about $3.2 million in other federal funding on
the second phase of the renovation of the former train depot in October, but
Cordes said that the extra money will allow the county to move forward with
the third phase this year as well.
The cost of the third phase is expected to be about $1.2 million. A fourth
phase is expected to cost $1.4 million.
Among the improvements to the depot the county has planned are renovating
the depot’s rotunda and offices, waterproofing, adding an elevator and
upgrading security measures.
The entire project is expected to cost about $7.3 million, most of which is
coming from the federal government. The only money spent by the county was
the nearly $1.5 million the county spent in 2000 to purchase the building and
surrounding land.
The rest of the money the county gets from the money awarded this week will
go to buy replacement buses for Lorain County Transit in the coming years,
Cordes said.
Commissioner Betty Blair said she’s all for speeding up the depot
renovations, a move that will allow the county to relocate its LCT offices to the
facility, but she wants to make sure the county keeps its fleet of buses in good
working order.
“It’s wonderful as long as purchasing of the buses doesn’t get waylaid
permanently,” she said.
Commissioner Ted Kalo said the county also plans to ask Amtrak to contribute
$1.7 million to build a platform that will allow passenger trains to stop at
the depot. That money would not come from the money the county was awarded
this week, he said.
Although Kalo said he was happy with the money the county will receive, it
can’t be used where Transit needs it most desperately.
“The money isn’t for operations,” he said. “It’s for bricks and mortar.”
The county is projecting a $600,000 shortfall for LCT this year, and without
additional funds, Kalo said, cutbacks to busing programs could once again be
on the table.
The county was able to avoid trimming routes last year brought on by a
budget shortfall $500,000 in transit because of a one-time federal cash infusion
of about $645,000. Officials don’t expect to get that money again this year.
The commissioners on Thursday used a $10,000 grant to fund a study on how to
increase commuter ridership of LCT buses, but Kalo said cutting routes is
something the county will be looking at again this year.
Although Transit’s ridership has increased in recent years, particularly
when gas prices soared, increased costs and limited revenue have mean less money
to work with for the agency, which receives most of its $6 million annual
budget from state and federal grants. The county contributes $500,000 annually.
Kalo said he has high hopes for the depot as a county transportation hub. He
said the county also plans to use old tunnels in the building for storage
and recently signed a $1,200 per year lease with Norfolk Southern for that
purpose.
The transit money awarded to the county was part of nearly $179 million
doled out around the state, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Sherrod
Brown, D-Ohio.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or _bdicken_@_chroniclet.com_
(mailto:bdicken_@_chroniclet.com) .
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railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1855
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org