(rshsdepot) Sturtevant, WI

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Contracts stall completion of Amtrak depot;
Railway also requests platform changes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...09/08/2002

HEATHER ASIYANBI Special to the Journal Sentinel

Sturtevant -- If everything had gone according to schedule, construction on
a new $ 2.1 million Amtrak depot in The Renaissance business park would be
chugging toward completion in November.
Instead, the project remains stalled while the village and the general
consultant, STS Consultants of Milwaukee, wait for Canadian Pacific Railway
to write up the necessary contracts.

Also, village officials said last week that while final plans had been in
place for months, the railway recently requested a change in the width of
the passenger platforms on either side of the tracks. The platforms had been
designed to be 12 feet wide. CP has asked they be increased to 15 feet.

According to a representative for STS, the change is primarily a safety
issue because if a high-speed rail system linking Chicago and Milwaukee is
built, the platforms will need to provide more of a space cushion between
the track and waiting passengers.

The new station plan allows for 170 parking spaces, a designated public
transit parking area and special lanes for easy access for taxis and area
where passengers can be dropped off right in front of the station.

The depot will have a mostly automated ticket area, but there is a small
office space that could be set up for travel assistance.

The new depot would replace the Amtrak depot on the east side of the
passenger train's tracks near Highway 11.

The delay is frustrating especially for Village Administrator James Henke.
He resigned effective Oct. 1 and was hoping the depot nearly would be
completed before his departure.

"I just don't understand what the hold-up is," he said. "We need that formal
contract to proceed."

The contract covers the right-of-way -- the 60 or so feet of land running
between and on either side of the tracks -- which provides access to the
tracks for construction of a walkway that will run under the tracks.

Without that contract, bid packages cannot be sent to prospective
developers.

At a Village Board committee meeting on cq Tuesday, Henke will suggest
transferring the village's administrative responsibilities for the depot
project to Jennie Trick of the Racine County Economic Development Corp.

Sturtevant and Trick have a good working relationship, Henke said.

Trustee Steve Jansen, who also serves as the village's Community Development
Authority chairman, agreed that having Trick serve as the depot project's
administrator would provide continuity and consistency while the village
undergoes the transition of finding a replacement administrator.

"Jennie is great, and I think it's a great idea to have her involved," he
said.

Whether Trick can move the project along, however, remains to be seen.

According to the STS representative, many attempts to get Canadian Pacific
to draw up the necessary contracts have failed.

A spokeswoman for the railway said Friday only that the delay was caused by
the complexity of the deal.

"Our attorneys are working through the paperwork, but it takes a while," she
said.



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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