(The following editorial appeared on the State Journal-Register website on September 6, 2009.)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Sen. Dick Durbin has fought against an unnecessary war. He helped bring the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to Springfield. He’s worked to extend 11th Street and construct a transportation hub on it.
It’s time for Durbin to come off the sideline and help mediate and solve the major issues Springfield has with the Third Street rail corridor being used for high-speed rail and a flood of new freight trains.
We want high-speed rail here. But when a plan has this much potential for economic harm, alternatives must at least be given a hearing.
It’s clear that there has not been enough communication between the Illinois Department of Transportation and local officials on this issue. That needs to be fixed.
To date, IDOT’s desire to make sure Illinois gets part of the $8 billion in high-speed rail money has meant taking the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, its zeal means Springfield gets railroaded.
Durbin, with his deep connections to this city, Illinois and the Obama administration has the stature and the clout to get people together at a table and to stop Third Street from being rammed down Springfield’s throat. He must act.
Decision will be pivotal
Which rail corridor high-speed rail and additional freight goes on could be a make or break moment for Springfield.
If Third Street is flooded with up to 40 trains a day, most of them Union Pacific freight trains, it could do great harm to the medical district and downtown revitalization efforts by uprooting residents and businesses and creating a traffic donnybrook.
That’s why city and county government, neighborhood associations and the business and medical communities are united in wanting consolidation at 10th Street.
If Third Street happens without a study of 10th Street, it will be the ultimate political betrayal. Other than Durbin, the people who will play a role and decide this are Ray LaHood, our former congressman and the current U.S. transportation secretary and President Barack Obama, who twice used Springfield as a set piece during his campaign.
What if there was no stimulus?
Durbin and IDOT officials argue that the onslaught of freight trains will come to the Third Street corridor, owned by Union Pacific, regardless of where high-speed rail goes because of the intermodal center being constructed by Union Pacific in Joliet.
While additional freight traffic has been in the works, we doubt there would be 40 trains a day without the bonanza of federal money for high-speed rail and the associated infrastructure changes needed.
In December — before the stimulus and Obama’s inauguration — Union Pacific, anticipating more freight business, filed a modest plan with the state for 15 additional trains and crossing system upgrades.
Union Pacific would not be plunking down on its own the hundreds of millions it wants from the feds in order to lay a second track along Third Street, nine new Clear Lake Avenue-style overpasses at a cost of $15 million apiece, a new underpass and the possible movement of the city’s largest and oldest sewer line.
But now that billions in tax dollars are about to be shelled out, the railroad is ready to reap the profits.
The Springfield/Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission’s report on Union Pacific’s proposed mitigation shows overpasses blocking homes and businesses from street access, requiring their purchase and demolition. It will be a disaster.
IDOT also to blame
Earlier this year, IDOT officials cut a backroom deal with Union Pacific for Third Street to be the high-speed rail corridor without informing local officials. This was despite a decades-long public discussion of railroad consolidation here.
IDOT points to an October deadline for getting its latest application to the Federal Railroad Administration as one reason why it cannot shift and do an environmental impact study of 10th Street.
IDOT is trying to sell the FRA a 2003 study that doesn’t consider 10th Street. That study should not be accepted unless a pledge to examine 10th Street is made. Considering a viable, cheaper, less-destructive alternative is the entire point of environmental impact studies. Not considering it makes a mockery of Obama’s promise not to waste the stimulus funds.
A new study takes two to four years, IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig said. But local leaders estimated one could be done in 18 months, enough time for 10th Street to meet the 2014 federal deadline for making stimulus-funded routes operational.
Get flexibility
Springfield accounts for 4.4 miles, a small percentage of the entire route. IDOT needs to ask for flexibility for that portion. Durbin should help get it that wiggle room.
Durbin and IDOT should ask the FRA to allow IDOT to amend its plans if an expedited environmental impact study of 10th Street shows it’s less problematic and cost competitive.
IDOT believes there is flexibility on whether overpasses will be built but not on which route the track runs through Springfield. We find IDOT’s attitude toward Springfield’s concerns to be increasingly flippant with such a big pot of gold in sight.
Gov. Pat Quinn also should intervene and order IDOT to start an environmental impact study of 10th Street.
Meanwhile, the city has some leverage. Union Pacific needs city right-of-way to build a second track. If there’s no help from the top, local leaders should use the courts and the right-of-way to stop this until 10th Street is considered.