Syracuse, NY -- After 12 years of waiting for buses in the blistering heat or the numbing cold, Syracusans are finally getting a bus depot, where they’ll be able to wait inside. ’’We are going to see a new bus depot here in Central New York,” Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, told a crowd gathered outside the American Red Cross...
View full sizeCongressman Dan Maffei (left) announces the Centro Transfer Hub project in downtown Syracuse will receive $8.5 million in federal funding. Flanking him are Peter Rogoff (center), Federal Transportation Authority administrator, and Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner. Syracuse, NY -- After 12 years of waiting for buses in the blistering heat or the numbing cold, Syracusans are finally getting a bus depot, where they’ll be able to wait inside.
’’We are going to see a new bus depot here in Central New York,” Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt, told a crowd gathered outside the American Red Cross parking lot on South Warren Street Thursday. “It is going to be people-friendly as well as bus-friendly, and it is going to change the face of downtown Syracuse.”
Construction on the new Downtown Syracuse Transportation Center will begin in two weeks and is expected to be completed in late 2011, said Frank Kobliski, Centro executive director. “It’s a great day,” Kobliski said. “When I first was told of this not even two days ago, I was almost speechless.”
The transportation center was made possible by an $8.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Of the $300 million in transit service grants distributed Thursday, Centro’s is one of the largest, said Peter Rogoff, federal transportation authority administrator. “I’m carrying Barack Obama’s checkbook to make an investment of Onondaga County’s tax money right here in Onondaga County,” Rogoff said.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., addressed the lingering skepticism behind the bus depot. “This is a big deal. It is a big deal that has not moved along that smoothly in the past,” Schumer said. “There have been stops and starts and hurdles along the way. Funding was secured, then funding was lost. Groundbreakings were scheduled, groundbreakings were canceled. Property owners were unhappy. That’s all past now. ... We can assure the residents of Central New York that there are no more roadblocks. At long last, there are no more roadblocks. The funds are there and this will get done. Period.”
The grant money is from two programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Facilities Livability grant program, which were announced by President Obama’s administration in December.
Centro has already secured more than $7 million in federal grants and aid for the new commuter hub/bus transfer station. The U.S. Department of Transportation agreed in September to provide an additional $2.5 million for the estimated $14 million project.
Centro has spent more than 12 years trying to relocate and build the new passenger transfer station at East Adams, South Warren and South Salina streets. The purpose of the new hub is to ease congestion in downtown’s central core by replacing the existing Centro Common Center at South Salina and Fayette streets.
The new Common Center will include an enclosed waiting area, weather-protected outdoor waiting areas and an automated-fare vending machine, Centro officials said.
Maffei noted that what the new station will accomplish is getting rid of the situation on Salina Street, where buses line up and people have to cross busy intersections.
He said that customers’ confusion about where to go will end, as will the situation that has left people outside, waiting for the bus, in extreme heat or extreme cold — which Maffei said “just doesn’t make sense.”
Mark Weiner contributed to this story. Fernando Alfonso III can be reached at falfonso@syracuse.com or 470- 6078.