KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo City Hall has a plan to eliminate long waits at train crossings downtown, but it won’t happen anytime soon, if it happens at all, and the end result may be underwhelming.
Last night, city commissioners approved a resolution to accept a $3.225 million planning grant to work with a long list of interested parties to see if a problem that has been in the making for 150 years can be undone.
City Manager Malcolm Hankins called it a “great opportunity here with MDOT, Amtrak, Norfolk Southern and Grand Elk and several other agencies to alleviate congestion in our downtown area.”
Utilities and public works director James Baker says moving the railyards to the north or south of Kalamazoo would mean no more long waits, but it wouldn’t eliminate all train traffic downtown.
“There’s gonna continue to be north-south freight, there’s gonna continue to be east-west passenger, so the big pieces are going to continue to be here in Kalamazoo.”
Baker says this is just a planning grant.
The actual cost of implementing it will be beyond the means of the city, which will mean Lansing, Washington and the railroads may have to be talked into sharing the bill.
“The scope of this is $50 to $100 million or more of actual work once we’re beyond the planning stage,” says Baker.
They would also have to find another community willing to accept a rail yard.
Baker estimates that the feasibility planning process alone will take 3 to 5 years, that is what the big planning grant is for.
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