CARBONDALE, Ill. — The city of Carbondale has received a $14 million federal grant to build a new transportation center to replace its current Amtrak station.
The facility, the Southern Illinois Multi-Modal Station, will be served by Amtrak’s Illini, Saluki, and City of New Orleans, as well as Greyhound bus and several bus transit systems. The station will house service to 30 counties.
The Southern Illinoisan newspaper reports that the city has been pursuing funding since 2016, and received word it had received a $13.99 million Better Utilizating Investments to Leverage Development grant last week. City manager Gary Williams said the funds will allow the city to acquire land needed for the project and hire designers.
The station concept includes a two-car garage, retail space, offices for Amtrak and transit systems, bike storage and bike-sharing facilities, and off-street bus parking. But Williams noted the award is about $2 million less than the city had sought, it may have to review those plans, while also seeking ways to make up the funding gap.
The new facility will replace a one-story modular brick building in 1981.
The station will house service to 30 counties???
“The station concept includes a two-car garage…” $14 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to.
I have a two car garage myself. It houses a car, a truck and two bicycles so I can also claim multi-modal status. Apparently the price of labor and building materials have increased significantly since mine was built.
To quote the Southern Illinoisan article, ” a 149-space, two-story parking garage; “
Only a 2 car garage? Perhaps you meant a 2 story parking deck?
Finally, multimodal plan for rail and road. I wish them success
It takes $14M just to acquire land and design the building????