Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Sangamon County board have their hands full with plentiful projects all around Springfield. Like the new rail relocation project, and the new transit center that’s planned for downtown Springfield. Sangamon County Board Chair, Andy Van Meter stopped by the WTAX Morning Newswatch to give us some insider on all the projects that are coming to the capital city.
With how quickly the transit building is coming along, how much longer until its fully prepared?
“When the went steel went up for the building, you suddenly see it take shape and here in another couple weeks they’re going to tilt the outside of the parking lot and so you’ll really get a feel for the size of the whole project. Everybody’s telling us finished by the fall of 27 so we’re about 15 months away lots of work in interior work to be done”
Anything on the new rail relocation project?
“When the community saw that the plans that the Union Pacific Railroad had drawn up for the center of the town, I think the community rose with one voice and said this just can’t happen. This will be the end of Springfield. And I think we were able to enlist the help of all of our representatives, like representative Washington; Senator Durbin was key. We enlisted the help of the governor. Multiple governors now over the past 20 years, every congressman that we’ve had represent us has been on board with this. It took a little while to convince the federal railroad administration, but when they signed on, they are now telling us that this is the best project in the country.”
With the new transit hub coming to downtown Springfield, we’re expecting a new downtown entertainment venue, and what else?
“There will be a cafe, and the cafe is intended to serve about 4,000 people that will come in and out of this building daily. We’re hoping that this cafe will serve as an opportunity to generate an entrepreneur’s vision, a new entrepreneur in our community. The county is going to cover the cost of filling out the kitchen for this cafe. We’ll make the space available, rent free, and utilities free for a period of time and our hope is to incubate a new entrepreneur”
