Money Secured for New Transportation Center in Lawrence
WASHINGTON — The federal government is giving $500,000 to the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority to help build a new transportation center in Lawrence. The new center, which is the final planning stage, would have a five-level parking garage, retail stores, shuttle service to Manchester and Logan International airports, a police substation, and a new location for Lawrence’s commuter rail.
Congressman Martin T. Meehan, D-Lowell, and Democratic senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry pushed for the funding because they said a new, more modern transportation center would stimulate the local economy. In addition to Lawrence, the transit authority serves Merrimac, Andover, North Andover, Amesbury, Haverhill, Methuen and Newburyport.
“In order to attract economic development, it is now more important than ever that we improve public transportation,” Meehan said Thursday.
Joseph Costanzo, transit authority administrator, said he was pleased to hear the state delegation landed money from the Federal Transportation Authority for the project, which he expects to cost $20 million. Most of the construction will depend on state and federal grants, he said.
“Anytime you go into the earmarking process, you have to work with your congressional district,” Costanzo said. “You’re up against every transit system in the country.”
Kennedy said that in addition to stimulating the economy, the new center would also make public transportation more accessible and improve air quality by reducing auto emissions. In a statement Thursday, Kerry said that better public transportation “can have an enormous economic and environmental impact on our communities, making them better places to work, live and raise a family.”
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
