Charleston SC Intermodal Sta. Limbo

Plans for CARTA to buy the Charleston, SC Amtrak station and redevelop it as an inermodal station have taken a blow when the FTA backed out of the deal that was about to be anounced the same day, according to this article.

From the article:

CARTA planned to announce Thursday that it was buying the Amtrak station to create a new hub for local and regional buses, trains, limousines and taxis.
But the deal fell through only minutes before the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority board meeting because of objections from the Federal Transit Administration, Board Chairman Elliott Summey said. “You can imagine how angry I am. This wasn’t the way I wanted it to go down. The board was ready to go and they pulled the plug on it,” he said.

At issue is the future of a long-envisioned transportation center to replace the dingy inter-city bus station on Dorchester Road and the aging Amtrak station on Gaynor Avenue. The new facility, known as the Intermodal Transportation Center, has been in the works for more than a decade.

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I'm not familiar with the history of this project, but it sounds like it has had some 'issues,' From the article:

Six months ago, a glitch arose with the Intermodal Center site on West Montague because of concerns about whether putting the Amtrak stop there would block rail traffic at CSX’s nearby Bennett Yard. Summey said that issue would have been resolved by putting the transportation center at the existing Amtrak station.

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Once again, it would seem the devil is in the details.

I had wondered what happened to this project. IINM, it received a grant a few years ago (when I recall hearing about it first), but then seemed to have falled off the radar.

Last visited Charleston about 4 years ago. The existing station is mainly OK and has lots of parking.

BUT - many persons (not me) might be afraid to walk up to Montague or over to Rivers to catch a city bus. The present station is in a - not bad exactly - but downscale - neighborhood.

The - seemingly- proposed intermodal up on Montague - similar neighborhood generally - not as bad as some stretches on Rivers - old US 52.

Right now the best CARTA bus connection over on ROvers is a short walk and runs every 20 minutes or so .

A transit hub of any sort that could connect the airport, Amtrak, and the fairly minimal CARTA system would be welcome to me as a sometimes visitor to some of the remaining NAVY installations near Chucktown to visit relatives.

Any good public transit from Amtrak or airport to the peninsula would be welcome indeed.

Hope this situation turns out well

This whole scenario is mind boggling. Let me get this straight - Greyhound and Amtrak stations are in shambles. Let's combine them and make a nice intermodal station with access to both PLUS City busses. Spent 15 years buying the new property, getting rid of junk and landscaping the area. With more than a decade and millions of dollars into the project, CSX says "No - that'll get in the way". An alternative is to build the Intermodal station at the existing Amtrak station, completely renovating (at millions of MORE $) the area. Instead, committee wants to sell the improved land originally slated for the intermodal station and use it to buy a new station close to downtown which (not mentioned in the article) would require an additional 7 miles of travel in each way - most of which would be a back up move because there is no way to turn the train in the Libery Square area which seems to be a very busy RORO facility. This would add probably at least an hour to the existing timetable. Incidently, the article states that the old Charleston Union Station was on Morrison Dr, whereas it really was at E Bay St and Columbus.

Then, the Feds tell the State that they can't sell the land improved for the intermodal station, or sell the existing Amtrak station for no apparent reason.

Bureaucracy at its finest!

Not sure if this is the most recent thread on this topic...but regardless, there appears to be some movement on this project.

Two recent articles from the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/construction-contract-for-delayed-train-and-bus-station-in-north/article_3fe1c1f0-371b-11e7-aa68-93ffb0a06462.html

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/carta-will-ask-local-governments-for-help-funding-construction-of/article_b438bd02-3b07-11e7-af46-477f27a12884.html

Not quite completely out of limbo/purgatory/wherever, but perhaps moving toward the door?