Funds

Feds deny funds for Springfield Rail Project delaying completion


Construction of the Hub transportation center, part of the Springfield Rail Improvement Project, will be delayed at least a year after the U.S. Department of Transportion denied a grant that would have funded completion of the project.

An unexpected blow hit the Springfield Rail Improvement Project this week when the U.S. Department of Transportation denied a $138 million grant request necessary to complete the final portions of the project.

The denial means Springfield and Sangamon County’s most significant project in years − relocating downtown rail traffic from Third Street to the 10th Street corridor − will be delayed more than a year. The project was expected to finish in 2025.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that because the department didn’t allocate any money to SRIP this year, construction on the final usable segments and the HUB – a multi-modal transportation center – could not be completed in the next two years.

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U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.)

Durbin hoped that USDOT would make Springfield a priority for federal rail grants in 2024, to get the project back on track.

“It is my hope that you will strongly consider SRIP’s applications for any federal rail grants in 2024, so the project can move forward,” Durbin said. “The remaining work is shovel-ready, and the City of Springfield and its partners are eager to move the project across the finish line after a decade of effort.”



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