Iowa City-Chicago railway plans are a no-go for now

Written by jrood

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will not allocate funds for the Iowa City-Chicago railway in the near future, the governor's communications director, Tim Albrecht, is reported saying in The Daily Iowan. Branstad said at a press conference that he is skeptical of the project during tough economic times, but did not rule out allocating funds in the future. The federal government has pledged $230 million for the $310 million project. Iowa would have to contribute $20 million to the project in addition to $45 million from Illinois. It remains unclear what would happen to the federal funds if the rail was not built immediately. The Obama administration rerouted $1.195 billion in federal funding from Ohio and Wisconsin in December, after governors in both states indicated their rail projects would not continue. Iowa was a beneficiary of the re-directed funds.

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