Post by title1parent on Aug 6, 2010 5:12:05 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2571212,6_1_NA06_STARLINE_S1-100806.article
STAR Line still crawling along
Naperville has $8 million invested in land for project
August 6, 2010
By JENETTE STURGES jsturges@stmedianetwork.com
If everything goes according to plan, Metra's proposed STAR Line would connect Naperville to some western and northern suburbs in a line that would run from Joliet through Schaumburg to O'Hare.
But the project is crawling at the pace of a freight train through a busy intersection at rush hour, and could still be derailed further if funding fails to come through.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the agency charged with long-term planning for northeastern Illinois transportation, recently put the project on its "unconstrained" list. That's a list for projects with low priority because funds have not yet been secured.
In response last week, the city of Naperville sent a letter to CMAP requesting the proposed rail route be upgraded to the constrained list as soon as federal funding comes through.
That could be in part because Naperville is already heavily invested in the project. Between 2005 and 2007, the city spent nearly $8 million to purchase two pieces of land, sites for two stations to be built along the rail line, according to Karyn Robles, transportation and planning team leader for the city.
A proposed Naperville station would be at 91st Street and Wolfs Crossing Road. A northwest Naperville station would be built on the south side of North Aurora Road where the BNSF and Canadian National railroads intersect.
And that's one of the proposed line's major highlights. All of Metra's rail lines now run as a hub and spokes connecting Chicago to its suburbs. The STAR Line would connect those spokes so a passenger could ride in multiple directions, say, from Naperville north to West Chicago and then west to Geneva.
But the $1.1 billion project, in the works since 2003, has yet to get through its alternatives analysis, the first step in New Start, the federal funding process for new mass transit projects. A Metra representative said he expected the analysis to be finished by the end of the year, at which point Metra would apply to move into the preliminary engineering phase.
"We got the first announcement two weeks ago that the first year of (state) funding was coming our way," said Michael Gillis, spokesman for Metra. "So that will help with the New Start process if we can demonstrate that there's some local funding."
While Gillis said some local contribution is expected to get the STAR line running, it's still unclear how much, or how much more, cities like Naperville will need to spend.
Complicating matters further are the EJ&E tracks themselves, the line's proposed corridor that was recently bought by Canadian National Railway which are being used to haul freight. Metra said it's still planning to strike a deal with CN to share the tracks.
"We haven't met with CN lately," said Gillis. "We will have to meet with them eventually, but our plans need to be a little further along before we get into it with them."
Still, city staff feel confident that, eventually, residents will be able to hop on in Naperville and hop off at O'Hare.
"The project will still be able to move forward," Robles said. "However, progress may be delayed in the future if an approved revenue source is not identified."
And that was Metra's sentiment, too.
"We're still moving forward with it," Gillis said.
STAR Line still crawling along
Naperville has $8 million invested in land for project
August 6, 2010
By JENETTE STURGES jsturges@stmedianetwork.com
If everything goes according to plan, Metra's proposed STAR Line would connect Naperville to some western and northern suburbs in a line that would run from Joliet through Schaumburg to O'Hare.
But the project is crawling at the pace of a freight train through a busy intersection at rush hour, and could still be derailed further if funding fails to come through.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the agency charged with long-term planning for northeastern Illinois transportation, recently put the project on its "unconstrained" list. That's a list for projects with low priority because funds have not yet been secured.
In response last week, the city of Naperville sent a letter to CMAP requesting the proposed rail route be upgraded to the constrained list as soon as federal funding comes through.
That could be in part because Naperville is already heavily invested in the project. Between 2005 and 2007, the city spent nearly $8 million to purchase two pieces of land, sites for two stations to be built along the rail line, according to Karyn Robles, transportation and planning team leader for the city.
A proposed Naperville station would be at 91st Street and Wolfs Crossing Road. A northwest Naperville station would be built on the south side of North Aurora Road where the BNSF and Canadian National railroads intersect.
And that's one of the proposed line's major highlights. All of Metra's rail lines now run as a hub and spokes connecting Chicago to its suburbs. The STAR Line would connect those spokes so a passenger could ride in multiple directions, say, from Naperville north to West Chicago and then west to Geneva.
But the $1.1 billion project, in the works since 2003, has yet to get through its alternatives analysis, the first step in New Start, the federal funding process for new mass transit projects. A Metra representative said he expected the analysis to be finished by the end of the year, at which point Metra would apply to move into the preliminary engineering phase.
"We got the first announcement two weeks ago that the first year of (state) funding was coming our way," said Michael Gillis, spokesman for Metra. "So that will help with the New Start process if we can demonstrate that there's some local funding."
While Gillis said some local contribution is expected to get the STAR line running, it's still unclear how much, or how much more, cities like Naperville will need to spend.
Complicating matters further are the EJ&E tracks themselves, the line's proposed corridor that was recently bought by Canadian National Railway which are being used to haul freight. Metra said it's still planning to strike a deal with CN to share the tracks.
"We haven't met with CN lately," said Gillis. "We will have to meet with them eventually, but our plans need to be a little further along before we get into it with them."
Still, city staff feel confident that, eventually, residents will be able to hop on in Naperville and hop off at O'Hare.
"The project will still be able to move forward," Robles said. "However, progress may be delayed in the future if an approved revenue source is not identified."
And that was Metra's sentiment, too.
"We're still moving forward with it," Gillis said.