U.S. Senator Dick Durbin speaks in Normal, Illinois on the site of the new multi-modal transportation hub. Photo courtesy of the Bloomington Pantagraph.
Just over two months after T4 America Director James Corless visited Normal, Illinois, that same town of 45,000 broke ground on a new transportation hub that promises to spur the economy and facilitate the creation of good-paying jobs. The center will serve Amtrak, city and interstate buses and taxis and will be open for business within two years. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and Normal Mayor Chris Koons were among the participants in the first ceremonial shoveling of dirt.
The project will put 300 people to work building Amtrak’s railroad cars, and create immediate construction jobs. Ronn Moorehead, the president of the Bloomington-Normal Trades and Labor Assembly told the Bloomington Pantagraph that 70 to 80 percent of construction worker’s pay is spent in his or her community.
Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff was also on hand for the festivities, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood blogged about it today, pointing out that the hub is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama in early 2009.
Debbie Halvorson and Tim Johnson, both members of Congress representing Illinois, and State Rep. Dan Brady also played a crucial role in getting the project off the ground.
Congratulations to Normal on moving forward with a great project to improve transit access, create jobs and grow the local economy.
At T4 America, we often lament that transportation policy is a page eight issue as opposed to a page one issue. Groups like InfrastructureUSA help bring our priorities to the forefront.
James Corless, our director, spoke with the folks at InfrastructureUSA on the phone last week about an array of topics, including high-speed rail, reauthorization and articulating an infrastructure vision for the 21st century. Listen to the full audio of the discussion here at InfrastructureUSA, conveniently broken up into shorter bits.
James cited some of the challenges facing transportation advocates in trying to catch the spotlight.
…everybody depends on transportation every single day. In many ways it’s in front of our face, but it’s hidden in plain sight. I don’t think that there is yet enough resonance with the public compared to things like the economy, national security, jobs, the environment, health care, there just hasn’t been enough resonance. At the end of the day, it’s often a very local issue; it’s not seen necessarily as something that rises to the level of national policy. That’s the challenge.
Another factor may be the message itself. James said transportation advocates have “gotten very wonky over the years. We tend to talk in terms of acronyms and funding programs and very arcane and outdated and scientific and very unimaginative language.”
James also discussed the need for high-level leadership, similar to the leadership President Eisenhower deployed in the 1950s to push through an enormous and unprecedented interstate highway system. James praised President Obama for making a signature issue out of high-speed rail, which will do a lot at the state and local level to spur economic development and travel access.
Citing the need for a broader vision, James called on advocates and policymakers alike to stop just asking for more money and start talking about what transportation is going to look like in the coming decades.
I think we actually have to reestablish trust with the American people and give them a new vision for the future, and tell them that this is not merely spending, this is an investment. We won’t do that simply by saying, “boy we’re really short on money and we need $120 billion just to keep pace.” That’s not going to excite people, especially with the kind of fiscal anxieties that exist out there. Asking simply for more money for transportation is putting the cart before the horse. We’ve got to sell people on a vision and we’ve got to reestablish their trust.
Click here for a complete transcript of James’ responses. (PDF)
T4 Director James Corless speaks in Normal, Illinois on the site of the new multi-modal transportation hub. Photo courtesy of the Bloomington Pantagraph.
Last week, Transportation for America Director James Corless (right) was in Normal, Illinois, a town of 45,000 and recipient of a $22 million grant for a new city transportation hub, touting the project as a model for smarter federal transportation spending in the next six-year transportation bill.
The TIGER grant program, created in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, doled out merit-based federal funding for projects that merge transportation with economic development, the environment and other criteria. This new multimodal transportation center in Normal received a $22 million grant from the first round of TIGER grants earlier this year, helping to bring Amtrak trains, city buses, regional buses and taxis all in one centrally located building.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos said making uptown accessible for walking, biking and public transit was a key goal of the redevelopment effort, allowing more residents a place where they could live, eat and shop. The project also played a crucial role in attracting the Marriott Hotel and conference center, both walking distance from the site.
Other elected officials were just as effusive, with State Representative Dan Brady, a Bloomington Republican, calling the project a “shot in the arm for the economy.”
James joined 25 local stakeholders, including Representative Brady and Mayor Koos, at a press conference last week to demonstrate local support for the transportation hub. Attendees included local labor leaders and representatives from the McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Amtrak and the Bloomington Normal Economic Development Council. Staff members for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and local Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson were also on hand.
“We think the transportation bill needs momentum and vision,” Corless told the participants. ”The reason we are here today is because we think that what Normal is doing is exactly that type of vision and kind of momentum that will give the transportation bill the kick in the pants it really needs.”
Normal should be the new “norm” for smaller cities, a example of livable and sustainable development resulting in real job creation and investment from businesses both large and small. Mayor Koos himself has been owner and operator of Vitesse Cycle Shop/Often Running in Uptown Normal since 1979. Normal’s leadership demonstrates to smaller cities that focusing on increased transportation options, investing in their town and city cores and expanding biking and walking can improve quality of life.
“We celebrate this type of spending,” said Brian Imus, state director of Illinois PIRG. “The multimodal center is an example of how to invest in a smart way.”
He added, “the next federal (transportation reauthorization) bill should encourage similar projects.” Transportation for America agrees, and is working toward a new bill that makes these types of transit hubs more easily funded and ready to move.
If projects like Normal’s can truly become the norm, that would be progress indeed.
UPDATED: We have some photos from the event on our Flickr page, and you can watch this short video of James Corless’ remarks at the event. Apologies for the quality of the audio, which is fairly quiet.
