A federal transportation funding bill passed in December gives Springfield’s rail relocation project a more certain future.

Although funding for the rail project isn’t secured yet, the federal bill means more money for rail-specific programs and for Illinois transportation overall.

“This gives us a pot of money to draw from that we didn’t have before,” said Jim Moll, the project manager for Hanson Professional Services in Springfield. Hanson is the lead engineering firm on the rail relocation project.

The project calls for moving the current Third Street rail corridor used by the Union Pacific railroad to the existing10 th Street rail corridor used by the Norfolk Southern railroad. While Hanson and others worked to establish a funding plan for the project, there was a measure of uncertainty about whether the money would actually be available.

On Dec. 4, President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act into law. The “FAST Act” calls for more than $1.5 billion for highway projects in Illinois over the next five years, plus more than $600 million each year for transit projects like rail, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. IDOT says Illinois’ share of transit funding is about $72 million more per year than the previous law.

The Springfield rail project is estimated to cost roughly $315 million. Lauding the U.S. House’s passage of the bill on Dec. 3, U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Republican representing Illinois’ 13 th Congressional District, said it “provides five years of certainty for Illinois and our local governments.” Davis is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The bipartisan funding bill represents a change from similar bills over the past decade because it looks forward five years instead of only one or two, according to Kirk Brown, a senior policy adviser for Hanson Professional Services.

“This is long term versus the previous short term,” Brown said. “That alone is a major accomplishment. There are some very positive things in there.”

Christina Mulka, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said the bill means more programs and funding opportunities for the Springfield rail relocation project. As one example, she points to the creation of the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects competitive program.

“This program is a first-of-its-kind competitive grant program that would give states and communities the opportunity to seek additional funding for projects with regional and national significance,” she said.

The program is funded with $4.5 billion over five years. Of that total, $500 million will go toward projects that include “grade separations,” which refers to building underpasses or overpasses to prevent train collisions with automobiles. Springfield’s rail relocation project includes at least eight new overpasses or underpasses.

Mulka says the “TIGER” program – a grant program in addition to regular transportation funding – wasn’t included in the FAST Act, but Congress did put $500 million in TIGER funding into the overall federal budget bill it also passed in December. TIGER, which stands for “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery,” offers competitive grants for certain transportation projects.

“We were fortunate to get TIGER before,” said Kirk Brown at Hanson. “At the time, it was year by year. Now, it’s five years out, and that should be very helpful to the project.”

Brown also points to the new Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Program as a possible funding source created by the new transportation bill. Like TIGER, it’s a competitive grant program.

Brown says the availability of funding doesn’t change the timeline for the rail relocation project because only certain sections can be done at one time to avoid blocking traffic.

“Even if we had all the money right now,” he said, “it would still take the same amount of time.”

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].