NORMAL, Ill. – The Normal Town Council faced a divided room Monday night as council members debated whether to move forward with the long-planned Uptown underpass, a $40 million project that would improve rail safety but require local tax increases to fund.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos cast the deciding vote after hours of discussion; this ordinance passed by a narrow margin of 4-3.
With 10 public comments, the debate revealed a sharp split between residents who see the project as vital for safety and growth and those who say its rising cost is too high for taxpayers.
Mike Kerber, public commentator and Normal resident, cited the daily risk faced by residents crossing the tracks and compared skepticism over the underpass to past opposition toward now-successful projects.
“There are many of us, including hundreds of ISU students, crossing the tracks daily when a two-mile-long container train is coming,” Kerber said. “Some people go around the pedestrian gates and try to beat the train, and we need the tunnel now and in the future. Some say it’s too expensive, and we heard this when Constitution Trail was proposed, and look at what a success it is. We heard this about the roundabout circle, and it has made it safer for cars and pedestrians to navigate Uptown.”
Matt Sweeney, business owner in Normal, said the project’s cost had ballooned from $13 million to $40 million. He suggested safer, cheaper alternatives such as pedestrian crossings that can be seen in other areas of the tracks.
“I understand that money has already been spent on the planning and design, and so much work has gone into this project,” Sweeney said. “The temptation is there to move forward just because we’ve come this far, but it’s just not financially responsible. The public will forgive this council for saying the numbers have changed. It no longer makes sense, or even we just need to step back and take another look at the options.”
Patrick Dullard, a Normal resident for 46 years, praised the town for earning a competitive federal grant, noting that only 55 of 665 applicants were chosen in 2019. He said the proposed hotel and restaurant tax increases would have little impact on consumers.
“An Expedia search for the Saturday evening of hotels in Normal produced 13 results, including two in Uptown,” Dullard said. “The average rate for the sample was $102, with the highest at $159. The revised tax would add only about $2 per night on average, and roughly $3 for the most expensive room. That kind of pricing change is not going to influence consumer behavior or push people to out of town hotels on the food and beverage tax.”
Chad Pacey, president of Firefighters Union Local 2442, argued the funds would be better spent addressing public safety needs such as staffing and equipment.
“While we fully support efforts to improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians and interact users, this specific project comes at a substantially higher cost,” Pacey said. “The cost of this project will differ from other critical needs, including public safety shortcomings that currently exist in our community. Staffing levels, response coverage and equipment needs are all areas that deserve immediate attention and investment.”
Ronnie Paul, Labor’s local 362 Business Manager, voiced the labor union’s support for this project.
“This project is something that is much needed for the community,” Paul said. “I think the Town of Normal has done an amazing job with Uptown, and this is the last piece of that puzzle. We need to make sure we fund it and get it pushed through.”
City Manager Pamela Reece began the discussion by outlining the project’s decade-long history and explained that an underpass was chosen in 2017 after public input rejected an overpass.
“We are asking the council for support for finding a funding source to complete the project, because we believe this is a transformational project that will be a catalyst for economic development on the south side of the tracks,” Reece said. “Not unlike what we experienced 20 years ago with our investment in infrastructure and the roundabout here on the north side of the tracks.”
Normal Mayor Chris Koos acknowledged concerns about the project’s quick approval, saying the town must act fast to secure funding and meet federal deadlines or risk losing it.
Council member Karyn Smith defended the design choice on the main basis that this new infrastructure would help people with disabilities. She commented on why invest in an underpass instead of an overpass.
“Now, for those who say that, ‘why not just do the overpass? It’s less complicated, it would be less costly.’ For one thing, an overpass has to be tall enough to deal with trains going through with the stacked railroad cars,” Smith said. “You need more height for an overpass than you need depth for the underpass. Who here hasn’t witnessed a situation where an elevator doesn’t work?”
Council member Andy Byars opposed the timing of the project, offering to table the proposal. Byars’ motion failed, and he expressed how unnecessary he believes this project to be.
“That has been mentioned several times tonight, the underpass project is essential to development in Uptown,” Byars said. “I’ve talked to economic developers, and that’s actually not the case. I’ve been told on numerous occasions that we actually don’t need this underpass. Is it a nice to have? Yeah. But you don’t need the underpass to develop Uptown South.”
Council member Kevin McCarthy urged colleagues to approve the plan, arguing that rejecting it would mean forfeiting $25 million in state and federal funding.
“Part of our responsibility as your elected officials in government is when the federal and state governments are handing out grants to do infrastructure projects,” McCarthy said. “We’d better be in line, and we’d better be asking for those dollars to bring back to the projects here. When we say no, that money is going to some other community to do somebody else’s infrastructure project, not in ours. That’s what’s going to happen if we say no.”
The Normal Town Council meets every first and third Monday of each month. The next meeting will take place on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of Normal City Hall.
