Butterfield wants money for downtown
By Staff Reports
Published in News on August 26, 2012 1:50 AM
A congressman has petitioned the state to appropriate unspent transportation money toward two projects in eastern North Carolina, including Goldsboro's Center Street Streetscape and Union Station projects.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who represents Goldsboro within North Carolina's 1st District, submitted a letter to Gene Conti, the state's Department of Transporation Secretary, urging the reallocation of transportation funding toward the city's two projects along with one in Havelock.
Butterfield toured Goldsboro's Union Station in June along with local dignitaries and supported the city's request for an $11.2 million federal grant which would have funded both renovations to the train station and the Center Street Streetscape project.
The aim of the Union Station project is to develop it into a multimodal transit hub combining bus and eventually passenger rail into adjacent facilities, increasing the city's accessibility to major metropolitan areas like Raleigh and Wilmington.
The Center Street Streetscape project has emerged as the city's signature downtown revitalization effort, seeking to repave Goldsboro's main street, widen sidewalks, alter parking and install a median with a walkway. City officials say the aesthetic improvements along the road will inspire more business investment from the private sector.
In his letter, Butterfield says the city has already invested $2.5 million to renovate downtown and noted that estimates show the projects could create or retain 691 jobs in the area.