When the South Shore Line's West Lake Corridor Project crossed a major threshold this month with publication of a 600-page environmental impact statement, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's mantra was: "There is more work to be done."
In addition to technical work on West Lake and the related Double Track NWI initiative, there are targets to hit regarding the Federal Transit Administration's Capital Improvement Grants program, which would fund half the cost of the projects.
"There are no guarantees," Visclosky, a Merrillville Democrat, said about the competitive grant process. The funds would be awarded from an annual federal allocation of about $2.3 billion for the Capital Improvement Grants program. Visclosky said working methodically to meet federal milestones and demonstrating community support are key.
"I am fully confident that if all of us continue to work hard, in a deliberate fashion, and with a regional sense of purpose, the economic landscape of Northwest Indiana will be transformed for the betterment of every resident and future generations,” Visclosky said.
The federal funding — a "New Starts" grant for West Lake, and a "Core Capacity" grant for Double Track — includes several phases, generally over several years, that let applicants know they're on the right track, but also requires significant upfront work and expenditures.
This year alone, contracts totaling $20 million for West Lake and $4 million for Double Track were made.
The expenditures help produce required environmental documents that are part of the grant programs' project development phase, one of three steps in the process followed by engineering and, finally, a full funding grant agreement.
Both West Lake and Double Track are in the project development phase. That status, earned earlier this year, indicated the FTA's general support and put the projects into the funding pipeline.
Entry to the engineering phase, which officials hope will come late next year, not only requires further engineering, mainly consisting of the environmental studies, but also acquisition of firm commitments for local and state funding.
Funding for West Lake is a mix of state and local money to be funneled through the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. State and local funding not only needs to cover half the estimated $603 million construction cost, but also debt service. An RDA report puts that at about $290 million over 30 years for West Lake.
Current cost estimates for Double Track NWI are as high as $275 million.
As federal authorities review the projects, they'll look at their impact on mobility and traffic congestion, their environmental impact, cost-effectiveness and the changes in land-use they'll require.
The 10-chapter environmental impact statement for West Lake, and its thousands of pages of appendices, details all of those.
"It's full of all kinds of analysis from all stakeholders," South Shore President Michael Noland said. It covers topics ranging from environmental and social justice, to the noise and vibration the trains will create, to the impact on historically significant properties.
Among regional agencies with a say in the projects is the Metra commuter railroad in Illinois. The South Shore uses Metra tracks in Illinois, and would need to amend its trackage rights agreement. Metra "has expressed a willingness to continue to work with NICTD" in accommodating the needs of each railroad, according to the draft impact statement.
In addition to the technical aspects of the FTA's evaluations, the federal agency will look at the economic development impact of the projects.
"We get rated on our community's ability to develop along the line," Noland said. He mentioned efforts in the Chicago suburbs to promote transit-oriented development.
"The communities along the Metra system have aggressively pursued this kind of development," Noland said. "You have to work hard to make it happen."
If the projects receive favorable reviews from the FTA late next year, and are approved for the engineering phase, they'll be considered for inclusion in the federal budget. Full funding agreements could come in 2018 for the Double Track project and 2019 for West Lake.
Construction would begin shortly after that, with completion of Double Track predicted for late 2020, and West Lake for summer 2022.