LTD Honors Congressman DeFazio with Station Dedication
Lane Transit District (LTD) will be holding an Appreciation Celebration at the Downtown Springfield Transit Station to honor U.S. Congressman Peter A. DeFazio (D-Springfield) for his visionary leadership and dedication to public transit and the community. After 36 years representing Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, he 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 President of the Board of Directors. “Dedicating the station in his honor is a fitting way to recognize his storied career of public service.”
In 1999, after much research, a group of dedicated community members and elected officials identified a vacant site for a transit new station, nestled between South A Street and the Mill Race, and between Pioneer Parkway East and 4th Street. 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. Now, both could return to their historical roots, but as a transit station, a conduit for opportunities and a crossroads for people on the move.
In 2003, as a Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, and many years later as its Chair, Congressman DeFazio led the negotiations for the sale of the property from Union Pacific Railroad to Lane Transit District to build a new Downtown Springfield Transit 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.
A year later, the Downtown Springfield Transit Station opened to a standing room only crowd of community leaders, bus passengers, and transit advocates. Congressman DeFazio was joined in the station’s ribbon cutting by Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken and Gerry Gaydos, LTD President of the Board of Directors.
“Because of Congressman DeFazio’s unwavering support for public transportation, more than one 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 Appreciation Celebration is scheduled for Thursday, October 13, 2022, at 1 p.m. at the Springfield Station. Attendees include: Congressman DeFazio; Springfield Mayor Sean Van Gordon; State Senator Lee Beyer (D-Springfield); Karmen Fore, Oregon Solutions Director and former DeFazio Deputy Chief of Staff; Vonnie Mikkelson, CEO, Springfield Chamber; Pat Riggs-Henson, Past President, Lane County Labor Chapter AFL-CIO; Vargas; and Johnson.