News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Monterey to move forward with a plan to use American Rescue Plan funding for an outdoor seating area at the depot.
Cultural Administrator Rafferty Cleary said the plan is to have a construction of a platform from the caboose to the dining car outside of the depot. He said the estimated $85,000 project will coincide with a current project to renovate the dining car.
“What’s awesome about it is it’s going to provide easy access to anybody who wants to get up there and look inside the trains and experience the dining cars which folks can’t do right now. It’s locked up, construction is going on inside. It’s the number one thing people ask when they come to the depot, ‘Can we go into the train?'”
Cleary said that a long-term goal will be to have the dining car and caboose available to rent out for birthdays, meetings, and other events. He said it will provide easy access to anyone who wants to access it through its ADA-compliant features.
Grant Writer Dawn Kupferer told Monterey aldermen that the project ticks all of the necessary boxes. She said that it’s a project that has been discussed for a long time, it’s a downtown project, and it’s a great opportunity for the community to use.
“It gives the museum more room to do more programs about the history and about the different aspects of Monterey,” Kupferer said. “This is a really good project and is fully funded under the rescue act.”
Cleary said there is not a current timeline for the work, but that engineers are working on designs right now.
