By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Steel structural elements to a track-side canopy and platform at Salisbury Station are being set in place this week.
When completed, the additions will provide protection from the weather for Amtrak passengers. A 325-foot-long platform running parallel to the north-south tracks will include a covered portion extending to the depot’s breezeway.
In all, the platform will cover some 5,000 square feet.
The project, which depends on 90 percent funding from the N.C. Department of Transportation and 10 percent from the city of Salisbury, has taken months to get started after Salisbury City Council awarded a $928,031 contract last July to Ike’s Construction.
Planning for the depot additions goes back to at least 2006.
Workers took advantage of spring-like temperatures the past two days to erect components of the steel skeleton.
After the construction contract was awarded, it took time to work out insurance questions and license/easement agreements among all the parties involved.
The North Carolina Railroad Co., N.C. DOT, Historic Salisbury Foundation (owner of the depot) and city of Salisbury all have a stake in the project.
The covered portion of the platform will extend roughly from the depot’s breezeway, past the Amtrak waiting area and about half the distance of a parking lot on the northern side of the station.
The platform will be similar to one already existing at the High Point depot.