Wonderland MBTA scores $20M grant

REVERE – A project to improve the MBTA Wonderland Station in Revere and the city’s historic beachfront will begin in early spring thanks to a $20 million federal grant.The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant “will revitalize the area surrounding the Wonderland Station and make it safer and easier for visitors using the station to walk or bike to the popular Wonderland beach nearby,” a press release for the project states.Revere City Council member Robert Haas Jr. says he is happy about the project, which has been talked about for more than 10 years.”It’s taken a while but it’s happening,” said Haas. “It’s great to see some investment coming in to improve the beachfront. It’s very exciting for the city.”Revere beach is the first public beach in the country, says Haas, and he refers to the beach as “the jewel of the North Shore.”He says the project is a great potential development to create tax revenue for the city of Revere.”Many, many people visit the beach every year,” he said. “The improvements will clean up the whole area, which I believe will attract even more visitors.”Improvements will include construction of an upper plaza over the station’s rail terminal that provides access to trains, a new busway, a 1,418-space parking garage, a central plaza that connects to an elevated pedestrian bridge and a crossing landscaped with native trees and ground cover, according to the press release.Haas says he’s most excited about the parking garage because MBTA workers will be able to park in it instead of on North Shore Road.”The (parking) garage will open up the whole North Shore Road,” he said. “This will allow for further development of the road and will clean it up.”He says the elevated pedestrian bridge from the Wonderland station to the beach will be beneficial to beachgoers.”The walkover from the Wonderland station to the beach will make it easier for visitors and residents to access the beach,” said Haas.The Wonderland Station serves the 26 communities of Boston’s North Shore and Revere’s beachfront. The station – at the end of the MBTA’s Blue Line – also provides residents of Boston’s North Shore with direct access to Logan Airport, Boston Harbor and Government Center, the press release states.Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff states in the press release: “As with other TIGER and Recovery Act projects across the Commonwealth and the nation, we are creating needed jobs now on projects that will improve our quality of life for generations to come,” he said. “Modernizing and reconfiguring the Wonderland Station will be a serious boost for the North Shore.”The project is slated for completion by June 2012.