Transit hub in Normal, Ill., to be ready next summer

The community of Normal, Ill., expects to have a four-story, $43.2-million transportation hub open downtown in time for the first high-speed trains between St. Louis and Chicago next summer, the State Journal-Register reports.

Much like in Springfield,
the idea of a "multi-modal" facility that combines train, bus, shuttle and
other mass-transit services in a single location has been in the works for at
least a decade in Normal. Unlike in Springfield, which is waiting on resolution
of the best route for high-speed rail through the city, construction is well
along.

"It was about 10 years ago
when we first began to plan the redevelopment of our central business district.
A key part of that plan was a transportation facility that would be a focal
point for a number of other developments," said city manager Mark Peterson.

Construction started about
a month ago and is scheduled for completion by June 2011. There also will be
retail and municipal office space, public meeting areas and a 400-car parking
garage.

The existing Amtrak station
will be torn down to make way for the project. In addition to having passenger
trains, the facility will serve as the hub for mass-transit buses and
interstate bus services, including Greyhound. Shuttles also will run to Central
Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, as well as to O’Hare International
and Midway airports in Chicago.

The site adjoins
Constitution Trail, a 30-mile bike and recreation path that cuts through the
heart of the community, and the campus of Illinois State University.

"We were hoping to create a
pedestrian-oriented environment. We wanted a place where people felt comfortable
walking and using public transportation," said Peterson.

He said officials discussed
how additional freight trains might affect traffic congestion, but that there
was no real alternative to the existing Union Pacific line.

As in Springfield, federal
economic stimulus money and the push for high-speed rail gave a quick jolt of
cash to a project that had been mostly on the drawing board. Normal received a
$22-million stimulus grant early this year. With that addition, federal funding
will cover about $33 million of the cost, and $1.2 million will come from the
state. Normal plans to issue revenue bonds to cover the rest.

There was no question where
the facility would go.

"We did purchase the land a
number of years ago in anticipation this would be the site," said Peterson.

A ceremonial groundbreaking
this month drew representatives of Amtrak, the Illinois congressional
delegation and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who called Normal a "showcase
community for the potential of high-speed rail."

The transportation hub is
part of a much larger redevelopment project begun in 1999 that eventually
resulted in renaming downtown as Uptown Normal.

The city of Joliet is
applying for a $25-million federal grant to help pay for an estimated $42-million
transportation hub along that community’s downtown Amtrak route, said planning
and economic development director Kendall Jackson. As in Normal, the route is
not an issue. In fact, Kendall said the improvements will ease a bottleneck
created by the crisscrossing of two freight and two passenger lines downtown.

"The improvements would
provide separation for passenger movement," said Jackson, who added that plans
are to consolidate mass-transit buses at the facility. There also would be
airport shuttles and links to the Chicago mass-transit lines.

The Joliet facility is part
of a larger downtown redevelopment effort that includes converting parts of the
existing Amtrak station for ballroom and meeting space. The station is on the
National Register of Historic Places.

Long-term plans include
restoration and expansion of the Will County Courthouse, also downtown. Jackson
said the project will include efforts to draw additional residential and retail
development to the area.

"It’s part of our central
area plan … for adaptive reuses," said Jackson.