Mass appreciation: LTD dedicates Springfield Transit Station to DeFazio

Register-Guard
·2 min read

SPRINGFIELD — To show its appreciation of what U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) has done in collaboration with Lane Transit District over the congressman's 36 years representing Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, the Downtown Springfield Transit Station was dedicated to DeFazio on Thursday. DeFazio will retire from office in January 2023.

“The Springfield Transit Station is just one example of the generational impact Congressman DeFazio has had on our community,” said Caitlin Vargas, LTD’s board president. “Dedicating the station in his honor is a fitting way to recognize his storied career of public service.”

In 1999, a group of community members and elected officials identified a vacant site for a transit new station, between South A Street and the Mill Race, and Pioneer Parkway East and 4th Street, according to LTD. This location had been operated as a railroad junction beginning in 1891, when the Coburg to Springfield and Natron railroad line was constructed to support the bustling lumber industry. In its time, the Mill Race helped generate power, while the junction was a crossroads for commerce. It seemed fitting to the collaborators that the site could return to its historical roots as a transit station, a conduit for opportunities and a crossroads for people on the move.

In 2003, DeFazio, serving on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, which he would eventually chair, led the negotiations for the property sale from Union Pacific Railroad to LTD to build the station that would serve as a safe, aesthetic, and enjoyable place to invite people to downtown Springfield; enhance current and future LTD customer services and bus operations in the community; and be compatible with the surrounding area and encourage economic revitalization, LTD said in its dedication announcement.

A year later, the Downtown Springfield Transit Station opened to a standing room only crowd of community leaders, bus passengers, and transit advocates, with DeFazio helping cut the ribbon.

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“Because of Congressman DeFazio’s unwavering support for public transportation, more than 1 million annual passenger boardings are recorded at the Springfield Transit Station by people commuting to work, school and other destinations in our community,” said Mark Johnson, LTD’s interim general manager. “Every time we board an LTD bus we need to thank Congressman DeFazio for the ride.”

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: LTD dedicates Springfield Transit Station to Rep. Peter DeFazio