The South Western Regional Planning Agency and Parsons Brinkerhoff started the East Main Street Transit Station Study in the spring of 2012 to assess transit improvements in the East Side, a statement said. The proposed site would be at the future intersection of East Main Street and the Stamford Urban Transitway.
The study focuses on an area with a quarter-mile to a half-mile radius of the overpass at East Main Street and Myrtle Avenue, an overview of the study said. The study is federally funded through the Sustainable Communities Initiative.
“We heard from the East Side Community during the study’s first public information session in June 2012 about their vision for a truly livable community centered around a train station, and the study team has worked to develop an approach that can realize that vision,” Craig Lader, project manager for the South Western Regional Planning Agency, said in a statement.
The East Side Partnership, a community organization that works to improve the area of the city, wants a mainline station along Metro-North or a phase-in program that would eventually lead to one, said Eva Weller, the group’s executive director. Having a bus depot would not attract businesses to the neighborhood and further funnel traffic, she said.
“That wouldn’t do what it needs to do,” Weller said of her belief that a bus station would not bring economic and community development.