The City of Plymouth may benefit from some big regional transportation upgrades planned for the future, and the city’s committing some funds to help with the process. The Plymouth Common Council voted Tuesday to contribute $10,000 to the U.S. 30 Coalition Project.
City Attorney Sean Surrisi said the goal is to eventually bring U.S. 30 up to interstate highway standards. “It’s kind of just a voice for the communities and a lobbying effort for the General Assembly to try to help shape the project,” he explained. :And the idea is that eventually, there’s lots of folks along the U.S. 30 corridor that would like to see it become a freeway, that would be more like U.S. 31 is from Plymouth to South Bend.”
The group aims to make sure local communities have a say in the plans, should the upgrades proceed. Surrisi says that while the project would be years or even decades away, it does appear to be getting some interest at the state level, “There was a blue-ribbon panel that the governor put together last year that tried to assess all the state’s priorities for road projects, and this was one of the ones that was in the top tier of projects that are likely to eventually get some funding.”
Surrisi adds that the city’s contribution for the most part helps cover consultant’s fees. “I think it’s kind of similar to the contribution that the city made to the initiative with the high-speed rail, which has been ongoing,” he said. “You may have seen the news that we finally made some progress on that last week, with the announcement of the funding coming in for the environmental study.” That project would eventually see passenger trains stop in Plymouth as they travel between Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio.
However, the Plymouth Common Council also took care of more immediate transportation needs Tuesday. They voted to renew the city’s agreement with the Marshall County Council on Aging for transportation services, with the city making an $8,000 contribution.
