» CDTA Selects Firm For Design Of Schenectady Station Improvements

From The Albany Times-Union

Designer picked for train station…Philadelphia firm selected to develop plan for Schenectady depot

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer ; First published: Friday, February 24, 2006

SCHENECTADY—A Philadelphia firm has been selected to design a revamped train station for Schenectady. The Capital District Transportation Authority, which is managing a federally funded project to examine and oversee upgrades to the 1970s-vintage station owned by Amtrak, approved the proposal submitted by Kise, Straw & Kolodner for engineering and architectural work on a station plan.

The Pennsylvania company is teaming up with local technicians from Creighton Manning Engineering Associates on the $200,000 contract. The funding is part of a $1.1 million federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island. Another $844,000 from the grant is budgeted for immediate station repairs and $54,000 is allocated to cover costs for administration.

A regional transportation improvement plan calls for as much as $6.8 million, including state and federal funding, to be spent on Schenectady rail station improvements in 2008 and 2009. The CDTA board of directors approved the engineering and architectural contract on Wednesday, and Kise, Straw & Kolodner’s proposal was among five submitted to CDTA for consideration.

The firm’s work is slated to begin this spring and is expected to take eight months, said CDTA Chief of Staff Carm Basile. Basile said the engineers and architects will examine the current station and surroundings near the intersection of Erie Boulevard and State Street. The recommendations could range from minor upgrades to an extensive redesign and expansion of the station, he said. According to officials with Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, the study will focus both on improvements to the existing station and ways to link the station to CDTA bus service downtown.
CDTA, which built and owns the Rensselaer train station and handled the $5.9 million overhaul and expansion of the Saratoga Springs station, is the lead agency for the project.

The current Amtrak station was built on the site of the city’s former historic Union Station, which was torn down. “Proud Schenectadians know that Union Station should have never been torn down,” Mayor Brian Stratton said in a statement, but he also called a $30 million station plan advanced by previous city officials “pie in the sky.” The Kise, Straw & Kolodner proposal calls for extensive community input as part of the planning process, officials said.