http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/normal-to-build-elevated-walkway-for-train-passengers/article_6e45e854-70bb-11e1-baba-0019bb2963f4.html
Over the past two years, I've watched as a great example of federal extravagance has risen behind the restaurant I own in Uptown Normal. The new Uptown Station (pictured under construction above behind Senator Durbin) is to be a modern 21st Century transportation hub linking local and inter-urban bus, taxi, and of course high-speed rail.
Setting aside my feelings on high-speed rail (in a nutshell, why does it make sense to spend billions to get me from Chicago to St. Louis 15 minutes faster in ten years?), this project is a classic study in scope creep. In addition to the stated purpose of linking the various modes of transportation, federal, state, and local taxpayers will also be footing the bill for three floors of administrative space for the Town of Normal.
Furthermore, it was recently determined (see linked article) that pedestrians cannot be trusted to cross the tracks at street level. Thus, untold millions more are to be spent on an overpass - with elevators on both sides for disability access - to protect from themselves the masses who cannot be trusted to look both ways before crossing.
Even better: because people can no longer cross at street level, Constitution Trail (the local bike path) will now be rerouted behind my store so that bikers and runners can cross at the nearest gated crossing. Which begs the question: couldn't they have simply put in pedestrian gates at a crossing at the station? I'm not sure what these would cost, but I'd be surprised if it approached the seven figures of an overpass.
Of course, there always seems to be an old-school Simpsons parody to mirror what's going on in local and state government, and this is no exception. Please enjoy the Simpsons' infamous "Monorail" song describing the ultimate boondoggle (FYI - the episode ends with Springfield building an "Escalator to Nowhere"):
Bottom line: if all levels of government are broke and borderline insolvent, how is it that the "infrastructure" classification can be stretched to encompass so many ancillary projects?
