Ask Peoria Station 1-24-18
Time for Transportation Q & A!
Feel free to post your questions in the comments section on any transportation topic. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one.
Feel free to post your questions in the comments section on any transportation topic. If I don't have an answer, I'll find one.
- David P. Jordan
Any figures on Bloomington, moline and Springfield traffic from 2017?
ReplyDeleteThe Quad City International Airport handled 665,691 passengers in 2017, down 7 percent from 2016's 716,872.
Deletehttp://qctimes.com/business/passengers-down-percent-for-at-quad-city-airport/article_863c536c-e65b-5348-a159-8270b6c6c6e1.html
Bloomington-Normal's Central Illinois Regional Airport hasn't posted minutes for its January 9 board meeting yet and neither a CIRA press release, The Pantagraph or WJBC Radio AM 1230 (the usual sources) have posted stories online with these figures. A Pantagraph story from September 30, 2017 noted a 13 percent drop in passengers the first eight months, attributable to a decline in business travel. I suspect the decline continued through year's end, and the authority is reluctant/embarrassed to report it.
Springfield's Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport posted its 2016 passenger figures in a press release dated February 8, 2017. So it could be a couple weeks or so before I know SPI's figures (which probably show growth).
David, I would imagine Bruce Carter never thought his old airport would be within 30,000 of MLI. It's a far cry from the Air Tran glory days.
DeleteI never thought that would happen either. Traffic is down nearly 1/3 from 2008!
DeleteYeah, that is staggering David when you think about it. Suppose they had too much over reliance on Air Tran at that time. You would think maybe they would offer free parking at MLI to help attract folks, but they put in place some fancy kiosks where you can easily pay for your parking so seems like they are not going the free direction. I suppose once you go to that free parking model it is hard to get back to paying down the road.
DeleteFree parking might help, but MLI's biggest problem is Cedar Rapids' Eastern Iowa Airport (CID), which for several years lost potentially tens of thousands of passengers annually to AirTran at Moline. Now, CID has pretty much everything MLI has plus seasonal service on Frontier Airlines to Denver, Las Vegas and Orlando; Allegiant Air to Los Angeles (also seasonal); American Eagle to Charlotte, Delta Air Lines mainline service to Atlanta and United Airlines mainline service to both Chicago-O'Hare and Denver. Distance from Chicago is likely a factor in CID's growth and mainline service by two Majors.
DeleteYeah, CID seems to have it going now and getting back their passengers that MLI stole from them over the years. It is pretty amazing they still have Frontier, considering they dropped out of most smaller airports. And the fact they have mainline to ATL, ORD and DIA is pretty amazing too.
DeleteThe Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Combined Metropolitan Statistical Area had 436,627 residents in 2016 and I bet the nearby Waterloo-Cedar Falls area (170,000 more residents) contributes some traffic as well. So CID has a decent population base from which to draw passengers. Interestingly, CID first hit the 1 million mark in 2005 but dipped below that figure in 2008. Since 2013, however, they have exceeded 1 million annually and last year handled a record 1,143,335 passengers.
DeleteHi David, I have some questions I believe you've addressed in the past, but I don't recall the answers and I'm not able to find it in the archive, so my apologies if it's a repeat: What is the history of the C&NW/UP spur into Pioneer Park - when was it built, and then when was it connected to the old Kellar Branch? Also, was there ever an interchange between C&NW and Rock Island where those lines intersected a bit further north (between Alta and Dunlap)? Or was interchange traffic between the two carriers handled down in Peoria?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Hi Buzz,
DeleteIn 1960, International Paper Co. acquired Muirson Label Co., which since the early 1930s, had operated a label plant on N. Galena Road (until recently operated by now-closed Champion Furnace Pipe Co.). Business was growing but the N. Galena Road plant, which was served by the Rock Island. had lack space for expansion. So IP decided to construct a new plant at recently established Pioneer Industrial Park.
Although the existing plant was served by the Rock Island, which also served Peoria's new industrial park, IP requested rail service from the Chicago & North Western. This required construction of a track from C&NW's Nelson-E. St. Louis line, which was nearly two miles two the west of the new plant site on N. University Street.
The C&NW agreed to extend rail service, but its plans were opposed by the Rock Island, which demanded C&NW obtain proper authority from the Illinois Commerce Commission. The C&NW did obtain proper authority and construction of a 1.9-mile track commenced in 1961. IP's new plant opened that year, but rail service did not start until the C&NW extension was completed in July 1962. The C&NW expected IP to generate about 1,000 carloads annually.
In coming years, C&NW's Pioneer Industrial Lead attracted two more industries - Klaus Radio & Electric Co. appliance distribution center in 1968 and a Montgomery Ward & Co. appliance parts warehouse and service center in 1974. Both probably ceased rail service after the Staggers Act granted railroads pricing freedoms.
International Paper Co. closed at the end of 1995 and C&NW successor used it for storage or the track lay dormant. The City of Peoria purchased it in 2001. Construction of the Kellar Branch connection began in 2004, but work wasn't finished until March 2006. Central Illinois Railroad Co. was the City's contract operator by then and provided service to one customer, Carver Lumber Co., for about six months. The significantly increased costs of rail transportation by adding Union Pacific to the routing forced Carver Lumber to strike a deal with the Tazewell & Peoria Railroads for use of its freight house and team track facilities in Creve Coeur.
There was never a connection between C&NW S. I. and Rock Island's RI&P line. The former was built late in the railroad construction era (1901) and was grade-separated, with the C&NW bridged over the RI&P. They interchanged a numerous points in the midwest prior to construction of the C&NW line, thus there was no reason to build an interchange northwest of the city.