Metra Dedicates Renovated Station In Flossmoor
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Officials and residents expect big things from a newly-renovated Metra station that was dedicated Friday morning in south suburban Flossmoor.
Metra executive director Don Orseno said he'd like to believe more people will use the Flossmoor station now that a $4 million overhaul has been completed.
Flossmoor resident Olivia Gabel said she thinks the new station will be good for area businesses.
"You can tell when the train comes into town. There's just a different life around the downtown that brings a lot of people downtown, gets a lot of traffic through our businesses here; so I think it's great that Metra is upgrading the station. It's beautiful," she said.
Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun also believes the refurbished station will entice more people to spend more time and money in the suburb's downtown area.
"This is good news for the business community, as well, because having a new station entices people to come out, and walk around, see the businesses that are around the community. I think it increases restaurant traffic," he said.
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Metra rider and Flossmoor resident Sarah Harper said the new station is more comfortable, and better designed than the old one.
"It's great. I've lived here all my life, and this is really comfortable, and clean, and it's pleasant to wait for the train now," she said.
The newly-done station includes a new warming house, new LED platform lighting designed to match the village's existing street lights, plus new tunnel work for people to get to the station from the street.
Orseno said he's had to put a number of other projects on hold, because he didn't have full funding for them due to the state budget stalemate in Springfield.
"We've got bridge projects that are on hold. Right now we've got an expansion on the UP West Line with the third main track that we were going to be doing. We've got several station projects that we were planning on starting, that we haven't started yet," he said. "I'm much more than a little bit concerned. I'm very concerned. I understand the challenges. I think everybody needs to work together to try to find a good solution for a very challenging problem."
