1.    Chris Wetterich Says:
September 14th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Yup, youπre right about the 40 trains issue, and weπve reported it correctly before. But the initial report was 40 more, so sometimes Iπve shorthanded it wrong.

No offense, John, but Iπve spent quite a lot of time reporting on this, including hours with all the players involved. Itπs been our judgment (and that of the city and county) that the 10th Street tracks, while requiring mitigation, would be far less disruptive than putting it on Third Street. One example of this would be the need to turn Second Street into a cul de sac when it runs into the proposed Jefferson overpass and vacating Second between Jefferson and Madison, where thereπll be yet another overpass. Youπd also basically force one of downtownπs biggest sales taxpayers out of a building itπs just expanded.

You are correct about UP being able to run as many trains as it wants down Third, and weπve reported it many times. But there is a firm nexus between high-speed rail and this freight traffic. Back in late December/early January, UP was talking an additional 15 trains a day. This was before there was $8 billion to spend on high-speed rail. Without the feds, there would be no second track and UPπs ambitions wouldnπt be as great as they are now. Its eyes are bigger than its stomach.

If there is the congestion you speak of, it wonπt just hurt Springfield. It will hurt UP as well. The city/county know this, and they ought to use it instead of rolling over. Weπre talking about 4.4 little miles here that will make all the difference in this cityπs economic development.

Youπll probably find nobody more critical of Mayor Davlin than me. And he is perhaps moving toward taking a position covering Durbinπs behind on this.

But did you honestly expect the city to forecast that IDOT would pull a six-year old study off the shelf, sweep off the dust and say, ≥Hereπs our plan!≤ when suddenly $8 billion appears out of almost nowhere to spend on high-speed rail? Donπt forget to consider that just three years ago, the Bush administration tried to kill Amtrak. This wasnπt on anybodyπs radar screen. And the engineers weπve talked to behind the scenes at the agency are appalled that IDOT would consider doing this without a proper 10th Street environmental study.