Teamwork creates historic preservation opportunity

The Oregon Department of Transportation is pleased to partner with several organizations, agencies and individuals to restore the historic Baggage Depot at the Salem Railroad Station.

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Thank you for your interest in Oregon's transportation system!

What's new

May, 2013: Do you like trains? You're invited to help ODOT select two new "mountain" names for the two new Talgo trainsets, recently arrived in the Pacific Northwest. Find out more and take the quick survey.

April, 2013: We're organizing public involvement. For more information, contact Jean Palmateer, jean.m.palmateer@odot.state.or.us or (503) 986-3472.

March 20, 2013: We now have this project programmed into the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (KN16212). It is set for $176,000 for preliminary engineering work and $5,000 for right of way acquisition.

Feb. 21, 2013: Our Public Transit staff has identified funds we can use for the critical planning portion of rehabilitating the historic Salem Railroad Baggage Depot. These funds will cover the Architecture and Engineering requirements, including traffic analysis, landscape planning and more.

All of these efforts help prepare for actual construction. The grant requires that the funds be spent by August 31, 2013.

Preserving and restoring the baggage depot is a multi-partner undertaking. A multimodal project such as this, by its nature, is only possible because of monies from different fund types, each with its own requirements and limits for use.

For example, Federal Highway Administration funds for the building renovation and Federal Transit Administration funds for the bus access and operating area will each pay for a part of the overall project but must be tracked separately.  ODOT gas tax funds cannot be used for transit activities as they are constitutionally earmarked for highway and highway-related projects.

This project is fortunate to have private donations and grant funds to support it. The funding scenario is clearly looking up, but it remains complex, and the entire project funding picture is still under development as ODOT moves forward, with our vital partners, to create a multimodal facility that will benefit future users.

Feb. 1, 2013: ODOT is in the process of applying for funds from the Federal Transit Administration to cover the costs of activities that are not eligible expenditures under the other funding already committed. We'll be hosting open houses and collecting input from nearby residents, stakeholders and others interested in this project in the near future.

Current funding commitments:

• Transportation Enhancement: $575,200
• Anonymous donor: $96,000
• Greyhound: $60,000
• State Historical Preservation Office: $20,000
• Public Transit Division: $10,000

Total estimated cost of the project is $875,000 which includes about $692,000 for the depot restoration and $183,000 to reconfigure and improve access for buses, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Next up: Public involvement, hiring an architect, completing necessary preliminary work for grant applications.

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Background

The 1889 Baggage Depot at the Salem railroad station is one of the last 19^th century railroad depots in Oregon. Salvaged from a fire in 1917 that burned Salem’s second railroad station, it became a stand-alone freight handling facility in 1918, and served its purpose well until roughly the last 20 years when it became obsolete and has sat vacant. The building sits next to the 1918 Beaux Arts Station, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.