U.S. Likely to OK Extending MetroLink to MidAmerica Airport
Project Expected to be Completed in 2003
BELLEVILLE, IL (September 10, 1999) -- MidAmerica Airport's future is uncertain, but Illinois and a federal agency may have enough confidence in the airport to spend $120 million to send MetroLink trains there.
The Federal Transit Administration is expected to approve the new rail lines in November, 1999, according to the Bi-State Development Agency, which is building rail lines in St. Clair County.
Transit spokesman Mary Knapp said the federal agency hasn't officially received all of the proposal for the new track, so she could not comment.
The agency could still reject the proposal, but Bi-State engineering director Greg Northcutt and County Board Chairman John Baricevic both said Thursday they expected it to be approved in November.
The new MetroLink extension would be tacked onto the end of the $339 million line now being built from East St. Louis to Belleville Area College. The BAC extension is set to start operating in 2001.
Approval of the nine-mile section from the college to MidAmerica Airport does not require an act of Congress, said Brian Lott, a spokesman for Congressman Jerry Costello. The Transit Authority needs only to amend its current grant for this second section to make it a reality.
Congress still must appropriate the money for the project, however, and that is not expected to happen until 2001. The $120 million cost would be split evenly between Illinois and the U.S. government, and Illinois' share is corning from Illinois First money. Bi-State deputy director Greg Northcutt said that agency can start spending Illinois' $60 million as soon as federal approval becomes official.
In fact, work on the next section is already under way; a local governing board for the MetroLink project voted Thursday to request Bi-State's permission to acquire the 200 acres necessary to send trains out to the airport.
Tina Votaw, who handles real estate for Bi-State, said appraisals on the property along the route are already being conducted. The 14 private property owners who own land along the proposed route can expect a call or letter from the agency before spring, she said.
"Quite a lot of the property is in public hands," Votaw said of the 200 acres at the meeting at Belleville City Hall. Some is owned by St. Clair County, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Scott Air Force Base.
The project is expected to be completed in 2003, Northcutt said.
Baricevic, who serves on the local MetroLink board, said he has been talking with Costello, a Belleville Democrat, about the project and indicated the federal transportation agency is expected to approve the project by November. Costello serves on the House Transportation Committee.
The draft of the agreement is being assembled at the FTA's regional office in Kansas City, Bi-State workers said.
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
Michael Shaw Article
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