Passenger rail service from Omaha to Chicago is the subject of an online open house that’s now available to Nebraskans for discussion.
Amanda Martin, of the Iowa Department of Transportation, says the online meeting is a place to post comments about the proposed routes.
Martin says the study will consist of five previously established passenger rail routes from Chicago, through Iowa to Omaha.
Each route is approximately 500 miles long, and as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative that was the corridor that was established as a route for future study and future passenger rail service, she says.
The study is one of the steps in moving ahead to establish a new route.
“It’s looking at the alternative routes and determining what route is most feasible based on the purpose and need of the route,” Martin says. “So it’s a tier one service level environmental impact statement is what we will end up with.”
You can submit comments on the routes during the on-line meeting.
“People who have concerns about particular routes or if they are supporting particular routes since it is looking at several. If there are concerns about any sort of impacts their state might be affected by if the route were to go through their community, those sorts of things,” Martin says.
The on-line format provides lots of information for people who’re interested.
“There is a video that will be on the website that they can review and it’ll talk about the project and will give more details about what we are doing, and there will be resources within the website, maps and information that will help the user understand the study a little bit better, and what sort of comments we are looking for,” Martin said.
Go to: www.iowadot.gov/chicagotoomaha to participate in the meeting.
