State Street station to be restored for buses, Metra

By Rob Golub

Saturday, February 21, 2004 11:45 PM CST

RACINE - Imagine a Racine Metra station, originally built in 1901 for railroad traffic, its oak and iron restored to historical accuracy.

Then imagine an outdoor bus terminal with more than a dozen buses lined up. The bus terminal is next to the restored Metra station, a warm resting place for both Metra users and city bus riders. This whole scene from the future is a $6.2 million transportation hub, planned for the 1400 block of State Street, and it's to be completed by July 2005.

If plans to take the Metra through Racine come to fruition in 2007, the renovated State Street train station and outdoor bus terminal will have been ready and waiting for two years.

The bus terminal, which accounts for about $3.3 million of the construction costs, will be completed first. The outdoor collection of platforms and overhangs in the shape of an "H" is to become the central station for the Belle Urban System in July.

The State Street train station, beside aging tracks that could soon hold Metra trains, will have its $1.9 million renovation work started just as the bus depot is finished this summer. The expected completion date is next summer.

Other costs include a $205,000 parking lot and $800,000 in landscaping. The project is 80 percent funded by federal grants and 20 percent funded by the city.

Built in 1901 and last used in the 1971, the train station is a mess. It's boarded up and filled with junk, but also filled with gems like a stained ceiling of wood slats in good condition and roughly 25 feet high.

The train station is roughly 6,000 square feet, with space for antiquated needs like ticket booths, railroad offices, and a smoking room. City Transit Planner Mike Glasheen said these uses will be eliminated; neither the Metra nor the Belle Urban System require ticket booths.

The new train station's design will maintain much of the woodwork and ornate character, but also will embrace modern needs by including a lounge for bus drivers, a police office, and a vending area.

Bus riders will be able to warm up in the climate-controlled train station, use the rest rooms, and even sit down at a coffee shop. Since the train station will be useful for bus riders, it's worth renovating even if the Metra is never expanded through Racine, Glasheen said.

Frederick J. Patrie, chairman of a Technical Advisory Committee on commuter rail, said he still hopes to expand the Metra service through Racine and on to Milwaukee by 2007. He said the proposed route runs right beside the State Street station.

The State Street station was built at a time when railroads were the major form of overland transportation, said Keith Kohlmann, a local hobbyist who has built a model of the Racine station. He's excited that the State Street station is in good enough condition for a strong and relatively easy restoration.

Kohlmann said the State Street station was top-quality in its day. It's a real asset for the community, he said, since other century-old, ornate Midwestern depots have been torn down or heavily renovated.

"You could get by with an old wooden building," Kohlmann said. "Instead, they built these big ornate depots. It was all part of attracting business. The Chicago & North Western Railway slogan at the time was `the best of everything.' "The depot they built for Racine really was the best of everything. Nobody will have a depot like this in the United States."

Special Offer: Get 5 Weeks of the Journal Times for $7!