Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Announces Transit Money for Macomb, Galesburg

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wium/local-wium-914560.mp3

Macomb/Galesburg, IL – Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently announced $500 million in grants for public transportation throughout the state. Much of that money will head to the Chicago area, but $58 million is coming downstate.

Macomb is getting $6 million, and Galesburg will receive about $641,000. The money is part of the state's "Illinois Jobs Now!" program, which seeks to upgrade infrastructure across the state.

McDonough County Public Transit Director Gary Ziegler says the $6 million dollar allocation will go toward phase two of the vehicle maintenance center project on North Pearl Street in Macomb.

"What that will do is pretty much complete the rest of the project," says Ziegler. "It will provide for indoor storage of the vehicles, it will provide an area for administrative services for dispatching for both fixed route and demand response, and also an area for driver training."

The governor's announcement this week was welcome news to Ziegler, as he didn't know where the money was going to come from for Phase II. But the city must still get an actual grant agreement in place before receiving the funds.

"I would suspect that once the grant agreement is issued, and we have no idea when that is going to be, then we would be able to go ahead and bid stage two."

The governor also announced $525,000 in funding for a bus transfer station across the street from the Amtrak train station, and $223,000 to go toward Phase one of the maintenance center. Ziegler says that money is already there, and there are already grant agreements in place.

The city of Galesburg will receive $308,000 toward a new transit facility, $40,000 to renovate the interior of the downtown Amtrak station, and $293,100 to install new security cameras, dispatch hardware/software and maintenance equipment.