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Cross-Sound Traffic
For ferry riders, Park City pushes for more parking
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Business New Haven
2/3/2003
By: BNH
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BRIDGEPORT - With ridership surging on the Bridgeport-to-Port Jefferson ferries, plans are being drafted to build a new parking garage just south of the ferry terminal.
Construction of the two-tier garage and a walkway to the ferry dock is expected to cost $6.4 million, said Joseph Riccio, executive director of the Bridgeport Port Authority, which manages the city's ferry facilities.
Port officials say they will seek zoning approval for the project, which they hope to begin work on this spring. The Planning & Zoning Commission was to review plans for the garage during its January 27 meeting.
According to published reports, about half of the funding needed for the project would come from the federal government's Ferry Boat Discretionary Program, and the rest from bonds issued by the port authority.
Riccio said the new facility would be more convenient for ferry users, who now have to park at a garage next to the Arena at Harbor Yard and then walk some 200 yards to the ferry dock.
"There hasn't been enough parking in the area to accommodate all the ferry passengers," Riccio told the Connecticut Post. "With the garage next to the ferry terminal, it makes it tremendously convenient."
Ridership on the ferries running between Bridgeport and Port Jefferson, N.Y., has jumped markedly in recent years. Riccio said that about eight years ago, ridership on the ferry averaged between 400,000 and 500,000 passengers annually. For 2002, he estimates the final ridership figure was more than 800,000.
In 1999 the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Co., which operates the ferry service, added a third boat to cross-Sound service.
Part of the reason for the surge in ridership is that more people want to make pleasure trips, either to Long Island or to take advantage of the new attractions at Bridgeport's Harbor Yard complex, Riccio said, particularly during warm-weather months.
But another factor is that more commuters and business travelers consider the one-hour ferry ride a more pleasant and efficient way to get to their destination than fighting traffic on congested I-95 in Connecticut and I-495 on Long Island.
The garage project would be the latest improvement to the ferry terminal at 330 Water St., just south of the train station. Last year, the dock was renovated, and new lighting and a security system were installed.
Eventually, the ferry dock is to be linked to other transportation depots downtown, part of a planned $62 million Intermodal Transportation Center. Plans call for the project to include an upgraded train station, as well as a new bus station farther up Water Street.
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