Rochester Business Journal

The city of Rochester will get $15 million in federal funding for the construction of an intermodal train station on Central Avenue, officials announced Tuesday.

The discretionary grant comes from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery III program.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Perinton, helped redirect $2.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvest Act funding rejected by Florida to the Rochester project, which also has received commitments of $7.5 million from the state Department of Transportation and $500,000 from the city.

That would bring the funding total to $25.8 million.

City officials peg the total cost for the Rochester Intermodal Transportation Center at $37.7 million, including $27.3 million for building construction and $10.4 million for track and signal costs.

The $15 million allows design work for the station to proceed, with construction to begin in 2013, Mayor Thomas Richards said.

“(The center) is a vital project that will improve the experience of travelers and create an important gateway to Rochester, Monroe County and the Finger Lakes region,” Richards said in a statement.

The new station near the intersection of North Clinton Avenue would replace the Rochester Amtrak Station, built as a temporary facility on Central Avenue in 1978.

City officials envision the intermodal center as a home for bus companies Greyhound Lines Inc. and Trailways Transportation System Inc., for Rochester-Genesee Regional Transit Authority bus and shuttle service, and for hotel shuttles and car rental agencies.

“I'm absolutely delighted that we can finally move forward with a station worthy of the people and institutions that call Rochester home,” Slaughter said in a statement.

Slaughter founded the Upstate Congressional Caucus and the High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus.

The intermodal center also is supported by Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both D-N.Y., who lobbied the federal Department of Transportation for the TIGER III funding.

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