Harrisburg Rail Station
The Town of Harrisburg and North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) Company partnered for the development of a passenger rail station along Highway 49. The new station was needed to meet the growing demands of rail access north of Charlotte, NC and the growing university area.
The Harrisburg Station design facilitates high visibility and easy access for passengers. As an inter-city station, it will be serviced by Amtrak as well as part of the ‘Piedmont’ and ‘Carolinian’ train service routes. Benesch provided site civil and landscape architecture services for the station, including grading and drainage (both inside and outside the railroad R/W), erosion control, utilities, hardscape and landscape.
Located on the northern end of Highway 49, the station is a gateway into the Town of Harrisburg. The siting of the station along with the “green” landscape setting was important to setting first impressions to travelers coming into Town along Highway as well as passengers arriving into the station. Building materials and colors were carefully chosen to bring the history of the old Harrisburg depot into the architecture while meeting the Town’s design guidelines.
In addition, an existing, abandoned roadway will become the ingress/egress for the station. The roadway was previously rerouted at the northern end to meet Highway 49 at a new signalized intersection.