PEORIA, Ill. – Some Peoria County Board members weren’t happy with it being rushed through committee and to them, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
The board Thursday approved spending $50,000 in support of the application process that, if approved, could lead to a Peoria to Chicago passenger rail line.
County Board members had less than a week to review the proposal before approval — even though such a rail line would still be a long way off.
“If we started today, and had all the funding, it would still take ten years, perhaps, to get everything lined up to actually have passengers on a train,” said Eric Miller, Executive Director, Tri-County Regional Planning Authority. Miller told County Board members, today’s standards are being used in terms of both rail design and the environmental impact of the trains, but those are able to be adjusted as time goes on.
The vote to spend the money was 13-5. Among the reasons for some of the “no” votes…
“It’s not the chairman’s (Andrew Rand) situation that we didn’t have time; it’s the overall project being brought to the Peoria County Board, asking for (the funding) within a six-day window of time,” said member Steven Rieker (R-Dist. 15, Peoria). “What would happen if we spent the next 30 days, educating, and doing a better job, then coming back next month?”
Rieker says he was told the timeline just doesn’t allow for another month — this, despite the fact that at least as the city level, the proposal has been discussed for months in public.
One County Board member says he likes the idea of passenger rail returning, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the best use of money for his district.
“If you look at my district, whether it’s today, tomorrow, or not, we’re always 30 minutes away (from a passenger rail station), whether it’s downtown, or we already have Kewanee or Galesburg,” said member Matt Windish (R-Dist. 15, Brimfield). “Just out of the fact of that, I don’t think it’s a good investment for the district, but I think it’s a great idea.”
If approved, this would be the first passenger rail service for Peoria in decades. Officials say Peoria is the largest city of its size in Illinois without passenger rail service.
