Springfield Rail Improvement Project receives final funding

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - After years of uncertainty, the Springfield Rail Improvement Project (SRIP) has received the final 30% of funding to complete construction work.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has obligated $157,126,494. Mike Mendenhall, the SRIP project manager from Hanson Professional Services, said the project should cost a total of $544 million.

"The biggest hurdle recently has just been obtaining construction funding," said Mendenhall. "We are very thankful for the U.S. Department of Transportation for providing that funding. But we broke the project into many pieces because we knew we would not get the funding all at one time."

The project has been divided into 6 usable segments, and the newest funding will cover the final portion. Local leaders say its been a long time project with many people involved.

"it's been through multiple governors, multiple mayors, multiple U.S. Department of Transportation secretaries, multiple congress people, multiple aldermen," said Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher. "I mean it has been a very long project. So lots of people have had some contributions with this, which is also amazing."

Buscher said she sighed in relief after hearing the money was coming through. While she is excited to see the project finish, the city is already planning a new greenway for the 3rd street corridor, where the train tracks originally were.

Sangamon County has funded parts of te program as well. The county board will soon be voting on additional funding, dedicated to a transportation hub behind the county building on 9th street.

"The county specifically is going to be financing what is called the hub, which is kind of the centerpiece of the project," said Sangamon County Chairman Andy Van Meter. "That will be the train station area and then in front there will be what we call the county square and that'll connect the existing county building to a new, enclosed parking lot."

The Hub will hold Amtrak facilities and connections to Greyhound routes. Van Meter hopes the facility is an exciting welcome to those travelling into Springfield. But it's not just beneficial to tourists, the consolidation of routes supports residents as well.

"It benefits anyone that's traveling to and from, through and within the community," said Shannan Karrick, Acting Executive Director and Senior Transportation Planner for the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional

Planning Commission. "It will be safer on all modes of transportation because there are the biking facilities, pedestrian facilities, with the underpasses it makes it safer to cross."

Mendenhall says he thinks the project will be completed by 2027.