April 23, 2024
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$4.8 million for Kendall County Metra extension included in $1.7 trillion federal spending package

By John Etheredge
The proposed Kendall County Metra service extension study includes this illustration of a commuter rail station that would be built off Orchard Road in Oswego.

The 2021 Metra study included this illustration of a commuter rail station that would be built off Orchard Road in Oswego.

Funding for a potential extension of Metra commuter rail service into Kendall County is included in a $1.7 trillion federal spending package passed by Congress last week.

According to U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, the package includes over $20 million in funding for projects in the 14th District which includes all of Kendall County.

The package is currently awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature.

The package contains $4.8 million for the completion of an environmental impact statement which will serve as the “next step in the planning for the extension” of Metra service from its current terminus at the downtown Aurora Transportation Center into Kendall County, according to Underwood.

The proposed Kendall County Metra extension has been under study for decades and potential station sites have been identified along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway tracks in Montgomery, Oswego, Yorkville, Plano and Sandwich.

Metra held a virtual public open house in March 2021 on a previous study for the Kendall service extension that included an analysis of the station site options, potential environmental impacts, projected ridership and costs, and funding considerations.

“The results of this analysis will provide information to local municipalities and governments so they can make decisions about how to proceed,” Metra officials said in a statement released at that time.

Also in the statement, Metra officials said new local funding will be needed to design, construct, operate and maintain the extension--if it is built.

They added, “It is also important to note that extending commuter rail service to Kendall County, which is beyond the six-county Regional Transportation Authority service area, would require approval from the BNSF, Regional Transportation Authority and Metra. It may also require potential changes in state law.”

The federal package also includes $121,000 for the Sandwich Police Department to purchase cameras for its seven squad cars to help improve transparency, accountability, and safety within the department and for the Sandwich community.

An additional $1.8 million is set to be awarded to the village of Oswego to pay for a water corrosion study to assure residents have high quality drinking water and mitigate potential lead exposures ahead of the village converting its water source by the end of the decade from the current deep well aquifers to Lake Michigan water.

A detailed summary of the funding package is available here.