(rshsdepot) Elizabethtown, PA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Intelligencer Journal.
 
Original story and photos at:
_http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/234832_ 
(http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/234832) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
The economic downturn has brought unexpected benefits to Elizabethtown  
Borough.
 
An ambitious improvement project that would create a second downtown around  
the borough's deteriorating train station is in line for an $8 million boost  
from Washington, D.C.
 
The federal plan to stimulate the economy has been looking for  
"shovel-ready" projects in need of funds, David Royer, the county's chief  transportation 
planner, said Monday. But projects that are ready to move with so  little lead 
time are surprisingly hard to find.
 
The plan for the Elizabethtown train station — a heavily used platform  above 
a dilapidated and shuttered station house — is poised to roll. The  
revitalization project, which has been in the works for more than a decade, is  
seemingly weeks away from receiving all the approvals it needs.
 
It lacks only funding. But that could change today, if Gov. Ed Rendell  signs 
a package of stimulus funding recommendations that includes $8 million for  
the Elizabethtown station.
 
The state Department of Transportation, a longtime supporter of the  
Elizabethtown plan, supported the recommendation.
 
And the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee to Lancaster County  
Planning Commission on Monday announced the local rail-improvement project has  
been added to its Transportation Improvement Program for 2009.
 
"It's a wonderful day for Elizabethtown and the greater Elizabethtown area  
to be able to announce that we have the funding in place for this project, 
which  we've been working on steadily since 1996," borough manager Peter Whipple 
said  Monday, just hours after TTAC's announcement.
 
The $8 million, combined with various state and local grants gathered over  
the past several years, will cover the cost of the project, Whipple said.
 
That includes rehabilitation of the stone station house, which was built in  
1915 and has been boarded up for at least three decades.
 
Borough officials have high hopes that the structure will become a hub for  
transit and commercial activities.
 
The project also includes raising and extending the station platforms,  
adding elevators to the site and improving the parking lot and grounds.
 
"The entire project is going to be covered," Whipple said.
 
Whipple said final comments on the project from both Amtrak and PennDOT are  
expected within the next few weeks. The Federal Transit Administration and  
Federal Railroad Administration have signed off on the plan.
 
"There is a lot of work going on concurrently," Whipple said. "The project  
needs to be shovel-ready by June 29. That's when we need to be ready to go out  
for a bid. But there is still a lot of work, from both an engineering and an  
administrative standpoint, to be accomplished between now and then."
 
That includes making final revisions to the plan, amending reimbursement  
agreements based on the stimulus grant and acquiring construction easements from  
Amtrak.
 
"There is going to be a flurry of activity here in the next 60 days in  order 
to ensure that we are ready to meet the shovel-ready nature of the  stimulus 
package," Whipple said.
 
Whipple said the federal stimulus program "fell into place nicely with our  
particular project. It provided an impetus for various agencies, ourselves  
included, to get the project ready for bids in a very short amount of  time."
 
If all goes smoothly, he said, the first shovel could hit the ground by the  
end of summer, and the new transit facility would be open for business by fall 
 2010.
 
"All this has happened very quickly," Royer said.
 
"The timing is perfect" for the Elizabethtown station, he said.
 
"It's just about through the design process, but we really hadn't  identified 
funding for construction. It was a case of being at the right place  at the 
right time."
 
E-mail: _tknapp_@_lnpnews.com_ (mailto:tknapp@lnpnews.com) 
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