Carbondale leaders discuss future plans for Southern Illinois Multimodal Station

CARBONDALE, Ill. (KFVS) - Leaders from multiple groups met inside Carbondale City Hall to discuss future plans for the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station.

On Thursday, March 31, we learned the future building will be more than just a train station. It’ll also be home to the Chamber of Commerce, Carbondale Main Street and an SIU Welcome Center.

“It truly is to service the region not just Carbondale,” said Thad Heckman, architect for Design Works.

Their meeting Thursday afternoon was about making the station environmentally friendly.

“And I mention Leed because that’s one of our sales points. We are going after Leeds silver which is, help me out Hannah, leadership and environmental and energy design. And we’re seeking silver certification, which is a measure of, a high measure of, environmental and energy conservation and preservation,” said Heckman.

The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce is expected to have a new space in the multimodal station.

Their executive director, William Lo, believes the new station will introduce the city to more people.

“It’ll kind being more foot traffic to Carbondale and then which, hopefully, will lead to more businesses coming to Carbondale,” said Lo.

Lo said this will be a great thing for Carbondale.

“It’s one of those things where I’m really excited about it just because it’s, according to Amtrak, this will be like the gem of their train stations,” said Lo.

As of Thursday, 60 percent of the construction documents are complete. As to when they’ll break ground?

“The formal paperwork essentially, for constructing something, due mid-summer, bidding will be late summer, award of bidding we’re hoping early fall, just to kind of keep it generic and construction hopefully soon after that.” said Heckman.

The city received a nearly $14 million in federal transportation grants to pay for the design and construction of the new facility.

For more information about the station, you can find more on the city of Carbondale’s Website.

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