Springfield transportation hub to relieve rail congestion
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[October 13, 2021]
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – A railway improvement project
intended to greatly improve traffic congestion between St. Louis and
Chicago reached a milestone Tuesday as work began on a multimodal
transportation hub in the capital city.
Gov. JB Pritzker was joined at a groundbreaking ceremony by U.S. Sens.
Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with several state lawmakers and
local government officials, both Republicans and Democrats, to break
ground on the Springfield Sangamon County Transportation Center, or what
local officials have come to call “The Hub.”
“When this multimodal facility is completed, public mass transit will
make the communities of Chatham and Sherman, Springfield, Rochester and
Riverton as well as adjacent communities, more accessible to each other,
and to St. Louis and Chicago and beyond,” Pritzker said during the
ceremony.
Sangamon County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter said the $86 million Hub
is just one part of a massive, $122 million project to upgrade the
entire six-mile stretch of line that passes through the city that
includes rerouting the line away from the city’s downtown.
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For decades, the major rail line carrying both passenger and freight
trains from St. Louis to Chicago has passed directly through the center
of Springfield’s downtown.
As part of the state’s $45 billion capital improvements program passed
in 2019, that traffic will be diverted several blocks to the east. That
is just one part of a major upgrade to rail service along the entire St.
Louis-to-Chicago line that is intended to improve the flow of traffic
and ease rail congestion along the route.
Duckworth described it as a project that will have economic benefits for
the entire state and the nation.
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Gov. JB Pritzker, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy
Duckworth, and Springfield area lawmakers break ground on a
multimodal transportation hub in the capital city. (Capitol News
Illinois photo by Peter Hancock)
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“In fact, you know, parts of the southeastern United
States have been purchasing grains like soybeans from places like
Brazil, because we can't get our goods and products to market fast
enough from Illinois, compared to how fast they can send it from
Brazil to the southeastern part of the United States,” she said.
“That's why I wanted to focus on infrastructure and transportation
when I went to the United States Senate.”
Durbin noted that the site of the new Hub, along what’s known as the
10th Street Corridor in Springfield, is near the historic Great
Western depot where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous “A House
Divided” speech before boarding a train to Washington for his
inauguration.
“So there's a long connection in history between the place where we
stand and the political past of America, and particularly with
President Lincoln,” Durbin said. “But it's more than that. These
trains and railroads are an integral part of our economy.”
According to the project’s website, officials expect to complete
design of the Hub by the end of this year. That will include
determining what amenities and services will be located in and near
the center. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
news service covering state government and distributed to more than
400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois
Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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