Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Jan. 21 announced plans for improvements to the Harrisburg Transportation Center and its surrounding areas.
"Enhancing Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure is essential to the region's economy and the Harrisburg Transportation Center is a vital hub that serves our Keystone Corridor passenger rail service, as well as intercity bus and local transit," Wolf said at a news conference, flanked by state Department of Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards and Mayor Eric Papenfuse.
PennDOT envisions an initial outlay of $15 million in federal and state dollars to bring the Transportation Center to a state of good repair. Long range, the project envisions $50 million to $60 million in federal and state dollars for station and other transportation and land-use improvements. Richards said the move is intended to attract private-sector investment to the immediate area.
"We want to partner with Amtrak, the city of Harrisburg, and its redevelopment authority to invest in this center and help create a magnet for redevelopment in the surrounding area," said Richards.
The decrepit center off Market Street, formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, sits a half-mile east of the state capitol building. It is the western terminal point for all but two of the 28 Amtrak trains that serve the station daily. The service attracts more than 1.6 million riders a year and intercity and local buses also connect there.
Michael Baker Corp. and a subcontractor, Base Architecture Planning and Engineering Inc., will conduct research and outreach.
