©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| West Main Overpass Groundbreaking Takes Place |
FIRST ON WGIL It was perhaps anti-climactic at best, but construction on the first of three rail crossing grade separations planned for Galesburg can now begin in earnest.
City, state, and federal leaders formally broke ground on the $12 Million, West Main Street overpass Friday morning, as heard live on WGIL. The project will be done by Galesburg's Guenther Construction and is contracted to last until the end of September of 2012.
State Representative Don Moffitt told a crowd that had gathered near Main and Academy Streets the West Main project could be the start of something big.
"[Friday] marks the beginning of the construction of a bridge to the future -- a future with more private sector jobs starting with the construction of these overpasses and an underpass," Moffitt said.
Moffitt says it could also be the start of something big for the city's largest employer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
"We want to position the Galesburg rail yard as the best place to expand in [BNSF's] entire system," Moffitt said. "Galesburg is the second largest yard in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe system. Why don't we just make it the largest."
Around 140 construction jobs will be created by the overpass project, to say nothing, officials say, about cars not having to idle wait for the train, hurting the environment.
Demolition of a building on West Main Street still has to take place before construction can officially begin.
PHOTOS FROM THE WEST MAIN OVERPASS GROUNDBREAKING
(WGIL News Story by Will Stevenson. Photos by Rick Heath.) |
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| 07 30 11 by Newsroom |
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