MD senators help Aberdeen land $800K in federal funds to improve train station accessibility

The city of Aberdeen Monday received $800,000 in federal funding to increase accessibility to the Aberdeen Train Station.

The federal investment for the City of Aberdeen’s Transit Oriented Development Station Square Improvement Project will allow further planning to support Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant improvements around the station, upgrades to pedestrian and bicycle facilities and other multimodal improvements.

The project ultimately aims to promote redevelopment surrounding the train station and spur new economic activity on the City’s Main Street. This funding is in addition to the $800,000 which the Senators delivered in March to support the first phase of project planning, as well as the $4 million in direct federal funding U.S. Sens. Benjamin Cardin and Christopher Van Hollen, both Maryland Democrats, secured for the project in Fiscal Year 2023.

The funds are provided through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) Grants Program, which the lawmakers fought to significantly boost funding for within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). Monday’s announcement comes after the lawmakers wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in March to support the city’s funding application.

Currently, the Aberdeen Train Station is not accessible to people with disabilities. The station is accessed through two entrances that do not comply with ADA standards: a tunnel with stairways and a switchback pedestrian overpass, which was constructed in 1982. Additionally, the station crosses through the city, separating the communities on the East and West sides of the rail line.

The project’s proposed improvements would remove the ADA-noncompliant switchback pedestrian bridge and support the construction of a new accessible pedestrian underpass that includes seating and walkways. Other project components include rail and platform upgrades and pedestrian safety improvements.

The lawmakers worked to authorize the RAISE Grant Program at $7.5 billion over five years under the IIJA. For fiscal year 2024, the program was funded at a combined $1.845 billion from both the infrastructure law and the FY24 government funding bill.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is an investment in American infrastructure that will provide more than $7 billion in federal funding directly to Maryland over five years to strengthen our infrastructure from transit systems to roads and bridges to water infrastructure, broadband connectivity and more.