Babylon Town to redirect $2M in highway funds for new Wyandanch train station
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone joined Sen. Charles Schumer at the Wyandanch LIRR station. Schumer announced that Babylon Town has been cleared to use $2 million in federal money given for other projects, for the rebuilding of Wyandanch LIRR station. (March 28, 2013) Credit: Newsday / Audrey C. Tiernan
Babylon Town has been cleared to redirect $2 million in federal highway funds toward design and construction of a new train station in Wyandanch.
The station is part of Wyandanch Rising, a massive public-private redevelopment project more than 10 years in the making that aims to revitalize the downtown of one of the poorest communities on Long Island.
The federal funds were initially awarded for a roads project. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) intervened with the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Transportation after town officials said they had other funding for that project.
“A new Wyandanch train station will be a powerful engine in efforts to attract private development and revitalize the downtown,” Schumer said Monday in a news release. “I’m pleased that the feds will direct these resources to such an important and transformative project.”
The new station will replace one built in 1875, Schumer said, and will provide a new pedestrian overpass, complementing the Long Island Rail Road’s Second Track initiative to build another track between Ronkonkoma and Farmingdale.
The total cost for the project is $4 million, Schumer said. The state has committed to $1 million for design and construction of the station building.