Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi paid a visit to St. Paul's Union Depot, soon to be revived as a regional transit hub with $85 million in federal funds towards the $240 million project. She saw the future of transportation in the old building, according to the
Star Tribune:
"Once the center of railroad activity in St. Paul, the mostly dormant building is expected to be on one end of a high-speed rail line that would link Chicago and the Twin Cities. It will also be home to the planned light-rail line between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The $237 million renovation project is slated to begin this fall and be completed in late 2012.
"The federal government has allocated about $85 million for the effort, $35 million of which came from the stimulus bill. Ramsey County has proffered about $42 million, and planners still need to fill a funding gap of about $100 million.
"'This is the future,' Pelosi told a crowd of reporters and local officials. 'And I think that this is a lot of money, but a small price to pay for taking this region into the future.'"
Read the full article
here.