Uptown transportation center to receive $22M grant

Feb 17, 2010 — The Pantagraph

Mary Ann Ford and Kurt Erickson

Feb. 17, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- NORMAL -- The uptown transportation center will receive a $22 million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant to become what U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin called "a transportation hub in the heart of Illinois."

"We're hugely elated," said Normal Mayor Chris Koos when contacted by The Pantagraph late Tuesday. "This is an affirmation for our community in such a competitive environment."

The $1.5 billion TIGER program attracted applications for $56 billion in projects. Normal requested $23 million, according to City Manager Mark Peterson.

"With this funding to complete the multimodal center, Normal is poised to become a showcase community for the potential of high-speed rail in America," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in a prepared statement. "This project will create hundreds of jobs in the region and serve as a transportation hub in the heart of Illinois."

The town has scheduled a news conference at 10 a.m. today at City Hall. Several officials, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, a Democrat from Crete, and U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, a Republican from Urbana, have been invited, and representatives are expected from Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn.

"We will have a full set of drawings at the press conference demonstrating that we are ready to go," said Koos.

The $40 million, four-story building will service Amtrak, buses and taxis and be the new home for the City Council chambers and some administrative offices.

The council chambers will be on the fourth floor; the offices on the second and third floor. The move will allow other town offices currently located elsewhere to move to City Hall.

A new parking deck will be connected to the west side of the building, which will be on the south side of Beaufort Street and between the roundabout and Broadway.

"The community has done a wonderful job of thinking outside the box and trying to put all transportation modes under one roof," Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig said.

Koos said that after the town "says thank you to hundreds of people," officials will need to go through the rules of the TIGER grant to see how and when the money can be spent.

"I always felt this would get built," Koos said of the center. "It's just too good of a project."

Koos said he believes the fact that the center is part of the uptown redevelopment plan, which stressed environmental sustainability and creating a livable community, helped secure the TIGER funding.

When U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in town Friday for a McLean County Chamber of Commerce event, he said the TIGER grants would reflect the desire for livable communities that are well-coordinated and open to new opportunities. LaHood mentioned Normal is doing just that.

Hannig said the one of the reasons Normal was successful in winning the grant is that the project fits in with the state's efforts to bring high-speed rail service to the Chicago-St. Louis corridor.

"But," Hannig added, "it also is a recognition that the Normal community has done a wonderful job of pulling together all this on their own."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0166-42146210