As Chairman of the Bloomington Monon Memorial Committee I sent an Email to Dave Williams, Director of Operations and Development for the City of Bloomington Parks Department. I asked him to give me an update on the actual aquisition of the Monon/CSX Corridor. In that email I outlined the long and short term project goals of the Monon Railroad Historical & Technical Society to memorialize the MONON Railroad employees that worked in the Bloomington area. I pointed out that MONON employee families are many in the Bloomington area and that they want a Memorial Monument to the MONON built, the sooner the better. I told Mr. Williams that the McDoel Switchyard & Trail Corridor project has the support of the MRHTS and that we want to be part of the planning process. The City of Bloomington has a great history of listening to the desires of the public when planning such projects and I am positive this will be the case on this one.
Below is the Email response from Mr. Williams.
Pete Pedigo, Commitee Chairman
January 3, 2005
Greetings of the New Year Pete,
We share MRHS’’s interest in commemorating the history of the Monon Railroad in Bloomington and very much appreciate your suggestions and support. The City submitted proposed purchase terms for the 3 mile rail corridor to CSX last fall and we are anxiously awaiting a reply. The method by which we hope to gain ownership of the corridor is through a federal procedure known as ""rail banking"". The process is a bit complicated, but its intent is to allow a governmental entity to gain control of an abandoned rail corridor for trail uses, and to protect the possibility of rail traffic returning to the corridor in the future. The rail corridor, through the rail banking program, would remain under the jurisdiction of the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Although the return of rail traffic to this corridor may be unlikely, rail banking legislation prohibits construction of some permanent structures on the rail corridor that could inhibit the possibility of train traffic returning to this route in Bloomington. We need to gather more information on this condition but as we understand it, anything we construct on the corridor, including a paved trail, could be removed at a later date.
We agree with the MRHS that there is a very interesting story about the history of the railroad and McDoel Switchyard in Bloomington that needs to be told. One way in which Bloomington Parks has attempted to ""tell the story"" of a historic site or park project is through the use of high quality interpretive signs that have been installed at strategic locations. Historic photographs, memories and recollections, diagrams and drawings, all can be incorporated in a tasteful, legible, and extremely vandal resistant sign package. Examples of these signs can be found at Miller-Showers Park and on the Clear Creek Trail, and by summer at Latimer Woods.
The timeline for the trail project is contingent upon negotiations with the CSX Railroad. If we are successful with our acquisition, than conceivably design could begin this year with first phase construction in 2006. The steering committee meetings that you asked about were part of the master plan project for the rail corridor and switchyard property that was completed in 2003. We did receive some public comment related to the Monon Railroad history at the public meetings conducted for this project. I’’d be happy to send you a CD version of the final plan if you will provide your mailing address. By whatever matter or method the history of the Monon Railroad and its employees in Bloomington is told and commemorated, we look forward to working with you and members of the Monon Railroad Historical Society on this project.
Sincerely,
Dave Williams
Operations Director
Bloomington Parks and Recreation