People wait for the Metra train to arrive from Chicago in February 2023 at the Crystal Lake Metra station. Metra is partnering on plans for a Chicago-to-Rockford line.
Gregory Shaver/Shaw Local News Network
A Metra stop could be coming to downtown Huntley, but officials are concerned about parking and costs.
Last year, Huntley was announced as one of the municipalities that would be getting a stop on the proposed Chicago-to-Rockford Metra line.
The service is expected to launch in 2027, have maximum speeds of 79 mph and take about two hours from Rockford to Chicago, according to a presentation from the Illinois Department of Transportation to the Huntley Village Board.
Ahead of a scheduled public meeting on the plans on Wednesday, IDOT staff and a consultant shared updates on the project.
Elliot Ramos, bureau chief of passenger rail corridor management for IDOT, said the line would run from Chicago’s Union Station to a new station in downtown Rockford.
The project has a $275 million price tag, with the funding coming out of the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital plan approved by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2019. The ticket costs and process still are being worked out, according to the presentation.
Notably, the tracks pass Marengo and the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, but current plans don’t indicate either will have a stop.
Huntley will be a stop on the new route, but officials have concerns with a potential downtown station, including parking, traffic and costs.
A possible location for the train station is next to the Cornell Apartment complex near the adjacent parking lot, according to the presentation. The station would be on the east side of the tracks, southeast of the Route 47-Main Street intersection. Vacant land sits on the west side of the track.
The proposed location is near the Hackett House, which Huntley plans to convert into incubator shops. There is a newly redone parking lot in the vicinity, and parking was among the concerns officials had.
Trustee JR Westberg asked whether additional land was available for potential acquisition west of the train tracks. Ramos said the budget is pretty tight, but it “could be a conversation that we have.”
Westberg said he was nervous about the prospect of 30 or 40 people leaving their cars downtown over the weekend. “It looks like a lot of parking, but there’s not,” he said.
Growth was also on village officials’ minds. Although there are expected to be four stops per day with the new train service, some village board members brought up the potential for a commuter rail.
The Chicago-to-Rockford line is considered intercity rail, similar to other rail in Illinois, such as service to Carbondale and Quincy, according to the presentation.
Ramos confirmed to the village board that the $275 million budget includes installing platforms at the stop. However, local communities will be on the hook for station maintenance.
Trustee Vito Benigno said he wasn’t sure the positives outweighed the negatives on having a station in town.
“It would increase our financial obligations just to maintain the areas,” Benigno said. “It would put an additional burden on our city services.”
The public meeting will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the Huntley Park District, 12015 Mill St. It will be an open-house format with a presentation and picture boards, and IDOT staff will answer questions.