Architects and local officials met this morning to present to the community more than $5.5 million in city improvements at the renovated Amtrak station and the newly built Transit Maintenance Facility.
Among the 50 some people gathered for the open houses were Republican State Representative Don Moffitt and Republic Senator Chuck Weaver as well as Galesburg Mayor John Pritchard, who led the morning’s presentations.
Prior to the Amtrak presentation, Weaver told WGIL he believes the projects are essential in maintaining jobs.
“Jobs are all about commerce, and commerce is all about communication of transportation,” Weaver said. “And so, we have got to have a good, healthy rail system going through district and that’s critical to how our job growth happens.”
Improvements to the Amtrak station included a redone floor, a windowed extension to the building that looks onto the railroad tracks and the addition of a ticket booth for Burlington Trailways buses. The project cost more than $880,000, most of which came from federal dollars.
Over on Monmouth Boulevard, more than $4.46 million went into building a maintenance and housing facility for Galesburg’s fleet of city buses.
Both projects were funded entirely though state and federal money.
As Moffitt explained during the transit facility open house, having an indoor facility to store and work on buses will keep the vehicles running better and longer, benefiting the community more than just financially.
