Dubuque questions

Iowa folks are smart and tough. In Dubuque last week, they got more of the same old state highway department he-haw. Of course they don’t have any money for rail. That would get in the way of their trucking company owners.

OK. I am being a bit presumptions. Perhaps they are fine public servants. Anyway, the Telegraph-Herald provided excellent coverage of a proposal to get a train to Chicago.

Sen. Mike Connolly, D-Dubuque, spoke candidly

about the funding situation for passenger train service.

“I’ve been down this road on these issues before, and while all this support is good, we are back in the situation where the Iowa Department of Transportation is short of money and there is no revenue source dedicated for rail,” said Connolly, who fondly recalled same-day train rides into Chicago for shopping excursions.

The senator suggested supporters lobby their state lawmakers to raise the gasoline tax, which would swell state transportation coffers.

“If the DOT knows that you all helped get the additional money, maybe they would set aside a pot for rail,” Connolly said.

Nearly everyone at the meeting took a petition to gather signatures in support of the passenger train campaign and a compact disc with a Power Point presentation about the project.

Filed under: Regional USA Passenger Rail, Uncategorized