Bettendorf seeks D.C. funding to help mitigate rail merger impact

The federal government is a major funding source Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher hopes to tap for a proposed railroad overpass if the project is found feasible on the Riverdale-Bettendorf industrial border.  In fact, Mr. Gallagher planned to introduce the item to the local congressional delegation during this week’s visit (March 25-30) to Washington, D.C. Mr. […]

The federal government is a major funding source Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher hopes to tap for a proposed railroad overpass if the project is found feasible on the Riverdale-Bettendorf industrial border. 

In fact, Mr. Gallagher planned to introduce the item to the local congressional delegation during this week’s visit (March 25-30) to Washington, D.C. Mr. Gallagher and a Bettendorf delegation – including City Administrator Decker Ploehn and Assistant City Administrator/Economic Development Director Jeff Reiter – planned to meet with federal lawmakers and agency heads while attending the National League of Cities Conference in the U.S. capitol. “We want to make sure they and those in the federal highways are aware of what we're trying to do,” Mr. Gallagher told the QCBJ ahead of the trip. “So we might be able to start trying to figure out the best pot of money to which we might apply.” Like other Quad Cities river cities, Bettendorf is seeking to mitigate the local impact of a $31.6 billion deal which creates the first single railway running from Canada to Mexico through America’s heartland. It is expected to triple train traffic to nearly one per hour in the new route’s most-affected area in the Iowa Quad Cities. The average train also is projected to double to more than two miles long by 2027. Overall, the Bettendorf contingent had a packed agenda, “in hopes of our lobbyists getting us in front of the right people relative to a lot of projects we have going,” Mr. Gallagher said. Among them he said is expansion of the TBK Bank Sports Complex, downtown riverfront development plans and the pending railroad issues from the Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) merger. “Once you're out there, you try to schedule everything and see everybody you can to make your point,” Mr. Gallagher said. “Most times it feels like you're running into the same wall. But you’ve got to do it because one day you'll break through, and maybe this will be the project that does that.”  The Iowa Quad Cities is the most-affected area along the merger’s new route, which stretches from Mexico to Canada through the American heartland. Besides interfering with business and residential access, recreation also will be impacted – especially access at 14th Street to the city’s Leach Park and the boat launch there, where a railroad overpass is not possible, Mr. Gallagher said. However, more than nine months before the merger was approved on Wednesday, March 15, by federal regulators, the City of Bettendorf negotiated a $3 million settlement from CP in exchange for no longer opposing the deal. Bettendorf was the first local city to come to an agreement – with Davenport ($10 million), Muscatine ($3 million) and LeClaire ($750,000) following in succession. The local cities are due to receive those funds 90 days from the merger’s approval. Mr. Gallagher said, as part of the settlement, CP agreed to cooperate with Bettendorf on any federal railway grant requests, as well as allow access to some matching funding from the CP Foundation. “I think we did good work for the citizens of Bettendorf in hedging our bets,” Mr. Gallagher said. “City staff did a lot of due diligence and research and really learned from the (Surface Transportation Board) and other mergers that we studied that this was probably going to happen. “So, we are pretty proud of the fact that we were able to negotiate a sum to help make the railroad crossings into Quiet Zones and improve overall safety. Some would call it a reasonable amount, but I would always say I would like some more money.” Mr. Gallagher said the settlement funds should completely cover turning the city’s railroad crossings into Quiet Zones despite ever-increasing costs. “We are going to do the best that we can to create those Quiet Zones, but that won’t happen all in one year,” he said. “Our dollars are programmed out for this construction season. It’s possible that if we were able to get some or all of the CP money in hand soon, we might be able to go out for bid on two or three of these (crossings) yet this calendar year, but I don't think that's going to happen. What we'll probably do is bid them all hoping for a better price and then schedule construction over a number of construction seasons,” he added. Editor’s note: To find out more about what QC communities are doing to plan for the increased train traffic in the wake of the massive rail merger, read the QCBJ’s next edition on Monday, April 3.