On Thursday, Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Leslie Richards held a virtual town hall, soliciting feedback from Pennsylvania residents on what they would like included in the new twelve year plan. Among the projects asked about was the Lackawanna Cut-off restoration and Secretary Richards said of it, “We would love to see more travel from Pennsylvania into New York, into Northeastern Pennsylvania.” She also stated federal funding assistance is necessary and invited residents to tell PennDOT their priorities.
“We applaud Secretary Richards for coming out in support of the Lackawanna Cut-off Restoration Project. We completely agree that federal funding assistance is necessary, but PennDOT and the state also need to play a role. We look forward to working with our local, state, and federal allies to secure the funding for this project that clearly has public support and desire and thank our supporters for raising this question yesterday,” said SRRC executive director Tyler Kusma.
The moderator mentioned there were several questions related to passenger rail, showing the strong desire for passenger rail in the Commonwealth.