Union Station in Washington D.C. is a hub for transit, trains and buses.

WAMU/DCist / Jordan Pascale

A big infrastructure bill is next on the list for Congress, and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Muriel Bowser want to make sure money for redeveloping and expanding Union Station is included.

Both recently wrote letters to Transportation Secretary Buttigieg about the project funding.

“Given that Union Station is federally owned and that President Biden has emphasized the need for greater investment in high-speed rail and infrastructure, the (project) should receive priority consideration,” Norton wrote in a letter Friday. “The (expansion) is a historic opportunity to ensure that Union Station is a multimodal transportation hub that is seamlessly integrated into a thriving mixed-use neighborhood in the nation’s capital.

“This goal can only be fully realized with federal funding.”

The Build Back Better infrastructure plan is estimated to have about $1 trillion for transportation projects. Bowser wrote earlier this month, saying funding was critical.

“Union Station has seen many iterations in its service to the District, as a bustling train hub, a national visitor center, a place of civic convening, an underinvested reminder of a previous time, an urban retail destination, and most recently as a multimodal transportation hub. Union Station’s next century will be determined by ongoing activities, including preliminary design and analysis of its expansion,” she wrote on March 10. “Despite its significance, Union Station’s tracks, passenger platforms, concourses, and supporting facilities require long-overdue essential modernization to meet safety, security and environmental needs.”

Local officials are bullish on the new administration’s stance on public transit and what that could mean for local projects like Union Station, which is federally-owned.

The Washington Union Station Expansion Project aims to revamp most of the station from a new bus garage with 40 spots to new below-track concourses and 30-foot-wide platforms, and two new entrances on 1st and 2nd Streets with pick up and drop off areas. It would also create more space for passenger circulation and ensure the station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It would cost anywhere from $5.8 billion to $7.5 billion and take 11 to 14 years to build. Additionally, a private development could bring more retail and other amenities. In all, the public-private partnership is around $10 billion.

But the parking garage has proven most controversial. While the project proposal reduces parking spots from about 2,200 to 1,600 parking spaces, many local officials say that is way too much and it is only encouraging more car trips when the station should be focused on transit.  Andrew Trueblood, Director of the D.C. Office of Planning, has said Union Station could manage with between 295 and 375 parking spaces.

In February, the Federal Railroad Administration said it would take a second look at the project. The final plans could come late this year or next year.

More than 100,000 people pass through Union Station a day, pre-pandemic, as it serves Amtrak, VRE, MARC and several intercity bus lines. It’s also home to the busiest Metro station.

Norton says that Amtrak, MARC and VRE are all expecting “unprecedented growth in ridership, with demand estimated to reach two or three times higher than pre-pandemic levels by 2040. However, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s own assessment, this predicted growth will be constrained without infrastructure improvements at Union Station.”

Buttigieg’s first official public event was at Union Station where he thanked transit workers for their efforts during the pandemic.

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