Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
The Springfield City Council on Tuesday approved a deal city officials have inked with the Illinois Department of Transportation that calls for all rail traffic through the city to be consolidated on the 10th Street tracks within the next decade.
The vote was 9-1, with the dissenting alderman, Ward 7’s Joe McMenamin, calling the agreement “fatally flawed” because Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, the two railroads involved, aren’t part of it. McMenamin said the pact was “incomplete” and “defective,” as a result.
Before the vote, Mayor Jim Langfelder urged support of the agreement, which places a Dec. 31, 2026, deadline on the rail consolidation, to show a commitment to the project. The deal also includes a state commitment of $70.8 million over fiscal years 2018 to 2025, if the legislature and governor approve a capital spending bill.
When Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath asked Kirk Brown of Hanson Engineering, the city’s consultant on the rail consolidation, how much it would set the project back if the agreement weren’t approved, he answered “decades.”
Now, Union Pacific freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains run along the Third Street rail corridor.
The agreement with IDOT also calls for the city to close five Third Street crossings by the end of this year and make other safety improvements. For its part, IDOT will take over jurisdiction of Madison and Jefferson streets from Ninth Street to the start of Clear Lake Avenue, and Clear Lake Avenue to Interstate 55. The city will pay up to $850,000 for excavation and preservation of an archeological site along the 10th Street corridor where artifacts linked to the 1908 Springfield Race Riot have been found.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 