Photo: Jay Willett/WBZ NewsRadio
LYNN, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — New federal funds have been secured to relocate and transform the Riverworks Commuter Rail station in Lynn. It is a significant step in a broader plan to reconstruct Lynn’s waterfront.
The Riverworks station is private and is currently only available to utility workers. The $500,000 in new federal funding will be used to study ways to make the Commuter Rail stop public and ADA accessible.
“This is government working at its best. It’s local, state and federal,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. She was in Lynn Friday morning with other local leaders, including Congressman Seth Moulton, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Monica Tibbits-Nutt, and Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson.
"If it's a plan that really is going to help us get more housing and get more people with transportation through the region, then the federal government's job is to put money into it," Warren said.
The transformation of the Commuter Rail station is happening in tandem with the development of Lynn's Harbor Park across the street. Currently, Harbor Park is just a mud pile blocking Lynn's waterfront view.
Mayor Nicholson said the development is "part of a broader plan... to create essentially a new part of the city." Nicholson said that includes new retail and industrial spaces, along with desperately needed housing.
"There's already almost 2,000 [housing] units in the pipeline today," Nicholson said.
WBZ's Jay Willett (@JayWillettWBZ) reports.
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