Carbondale Sign

 The city has put a large Carbondale logo across the top of the Robbie Stokes Memorial Stage, complementing the one on the Multi Modal Transport Station. Now to complete the set, they should put the name of the city across the facade of the City Hall/Civic Center

City of New Orleans

 I got to thinking the city should license the song "City of New Orleans" and play it at the multi-modal station, especially when that train picks up and unloads passengers. Would certainly help reinforce Carbondale's history as a railroad town.

SIMMS

 Well apparently the official name of the multi modal station is the Southern Illinois Multi Modal Station (SIMMS). I would think naming it for someone important in Carbondale history would be a nice touch and the official drop off point for passengers is still not ready.

The City of Carbondale announces that the planned relocation of the transit and passenger drop-off entrance at the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station (SIMMS), originally scheduled for March 18, 2026, has been postponed due to construction-related issues.

As a result, the current temporary transit and passenger drop-off entrance on South Illinois Avenue will remain in use until further notice.

Passengers, transit users, and drivers should continue using the existing entrance and follow current signage for drop-off and pick-up at SIMMS.

Tourism Display

 I stopped in at the multi modal state to check to see if there was a tourism display there as I remembered and there is a display in the corner. Fairly small one though so I hope the city has plans to put a much larger rack in there when the station gets completed

Tourism

 Carbondale is not a tourist town. It does not have the attractive and shoppable downtown needed to pull visitors in visit the downtown area.  It does not look "quaint", nor does it have the type of shops that would pull visitors in to the downtown area:  gift shops, artisanal crafters or antique shops.

What it does have, and this is something city government should push extensively, is adjacency to thousands of acres of national forest, state parks and wineries.  We have the lodging in both traditional hotels, motels and B&Bs  to serve as a home base for those coming to Southern Illinois to visit those attractions and the city needs a focal point where visitors can pick up information about local attractions. There is a small display last time I looked in the multi modal station. I hope the city puts in a much more fully stocked display to which we can send visitors.

Most Expensive Building

 Talking with someone in a position to know during the Homecoming concert, according to them the Multimodal transit center is the most expensive building built in the state of Illinois in the last 10 years, with a cost running around $800 per square foot.

I must say, there is a lot of empty space inside, both horizontally and vertically. There is a lot of empty vertical space inside the architect put in there to comply with the city's downtown requirement of having facades at least 2 stories tall. Instead of putting a second floor in, there is just a lot of open space, which will require heating and cooling.

In addition, there are more meeting spaces in the north end of the building. Did the city need them? It already has space at the Dunn Richmond Center, in the Student Center, in the Civic Center, even the old Train Depot building. Local groups also meet in the Public Library and in various churches. It seems we have far more meeting spaces that we have meeting space need.

Multi Modal Station

 You know what the new transmodal station really needs?  A sign.  Make that two signs. One saying this is the Amtrak Station and one saying it is the Greyhound and other bus station.  Seriously, put signs up.  For years, those in the offices at the old train depot have had people coming in asking if it is the train station. There was even a sign put up a number of years ago telling train riders that the Amtrak station was two blocks south and still people kept asking.  Why?  Because the old train depot looks like a TRAIN DEPOT. The new building, while a nice addition to downtown, does not. The only signage currently on the outside of the building is a big one saying "Carbondale".

Given that the now demolished Amtrak station was built back in 1981 and 40 years later people still did not know where it was, putting signage up indicating the new building is now the train and bus depot seems a good idea. One on the building itself and one posted on a light pole out by the street.

Multi-Modal Transit Station

 The multi-modal transit station is getting closer to competition, maybe by late summer. One thing I have noticed is that, in order to comply with city planning ordinances requiring all new buildings in downtown to stand at least 2 stories tall, there will be a lot of empty space inside the building, meaning there will be a lot of money spent heating and cooling that empty space. Would it have violated the ordinance to put a 2nd floor false front on the building, making it look two tiers tall, which I do agree new buildings should help infill and improve the attractiveness of downtown, in stead of including all that wasted space inside?

Parking

 The Multi Modal building at the corner of Walnut and Illinois took out a big chunk of parking the Hilton was using for its customers, making it that much harder for the hotel to attract customers.  No one renting a room at the Hilton is going to want to park in the Civic Center parking lot and walk across the busy three lane street to get to their hotel room. In today's society, people do not want to walk far from their car to where they are going.  Ideally, you are able to park your car in a location from where you can the the entrance of the facility to which you are going.

From what I hear, the owner of the Hilton has bought several of the lots adjacent to the hotel along Walnut Street with plans to raze them for parking but only one house has been pulled down and there are still For Sale signs on a couple of others.

Multi-Modal Transit Center

 The multi-modal transit center is coming together nicely. On the one hand, I like that the architects adhered to downtown zoning regulation in that all new buildings have to be 2 stories tall as it will certainly improve the streetscape. On the other hand, making it so tall without putting an actual second floor in there wastes a lot of space and will likely increase the heating and cooling costs. I still want to know the layout for bus entrance and exit as well as how parking for taxis (if we still have any) and Uber drivers (I know we have these) will be handled. 

Will buses exit north onto 51 or east onto 13? I hope the design puts the bus port further south on 51 so that buses have the option of either going north on 51 or east on 13.

Tourism

 I really hope the city puts a staffed tourism office in the new multi modal center or at least a kiosk with both printed and touch screen information. The store is a tourist destination for a certain group of people and we often has inquiries from those people as to other tourist activities in the area and where they can find out more information.  With the closure of the Carbondale Tourism office in 2023, . there really is not anyplace currently to send them for more information about activities in the Shawnee or the Southern Illinois Wine Trail

Multi Modal Transit Center

 Walk through of the city's unfinished multi-modal transit system building. Still pretty much a shell but you can get an idea of what it will look like. From what I understand, both the Chamber of Commerce and Carbondale Main Street will move out of the Old Train Depot into offices in the building and there will be a tourism welcome center as well.

Multimodal Station

 The downtown multimodal station got the roof of one of the towers installed today. I am really looking forward to having the whole thing completed as it will add a block long two story building along Illinois. The number of one story buildings in downtown does not make the streetscape appealing. Most vital downtowns have streets lined with two story buildings, whihc have far more eye appeal tha the number of low slung buildings in downtown. That style of building is generally more modern, quickly build and found at the outskirts of town, rather in downtown.

Eclipse

 Well looks as if the "ring of fire" eclipse viewing was a bust as clouds covered Carbondale all day.

However, you can still attend the final "Off the Rails" concert of the year at the Washington Street event space. Concert goes on until about 10 tonight. Maybe sometime next year the planned stage will be installed but I would be willing to bet not until 2025 after the multi modal transport center is completed.

Ground Breaking

Was wondering why I saw carts and a crowd of people at the Amtrak station today.  Broke ground for the new multi-modal transit station with about 20 people in hard hats awkwardly holding shovels and turning the first dirt (excluding that already moved by the earth moving equiptment) for the project. Scheduled for completion in December of 2024, probably before completion of the Washinton Street Entertainment Venue.

Multi Modal Transit Center

 Heard an interview with city manager Gary Williams on WSIU today regarding the downtown transit center. Clearing the remnants of the old Carbondale Cycle building should be completed in a week or so and construction of the multi-modal transit center should begin by the end of May or first week of June. Wonder what will happen to the current Amtrak station? It will probably get removed as well but I would imaging that will happen after the new building is complete and its location used for more parking.

Multi modal center

 The planned downtown multimodal transportation center received another $300,000, pushing the total money from the state to just short of $3 million, bringing the total the city has received for the project to $16.8 million. Still not sure this is the best use of the money and, from the artist's concepts, I am not to sure as to how well it will fit in with the rest of downtown Carbondale. Buildings erected in the downtown area are supposed to fit in with the overall look of downtown. This structure has a much more modernistic look to it than other buildings in the district.

Transmodal Center

 Sat is on the Q&A for the Downtown Transmodal Center this afternoon. Most of the discussion, although I got in about late, came from local contractors inquiring about how to place a bit for various contracts on the project. I did find out that, should the transmodal center come to pass, the building currently housing Carbondale Cycle will be demolished, with the city working to find another location for Carbondale Cycle. Too bad though, as I always thought it said a lot about Carbondale's status as a bike friendly community to have two bike shops directly across the street from one another.

Multi Modal Station Meeting

 If you would like to weigh in on the proposed multi modal station, you can request access to a meeting on the subject form 3 to 4 p.m.on Nov. 9.  Here is a link to information about the proposal  and to request access to the meeting

Multi-Modal Transportation Center Plan

 The city has posted a planning document for the proposed downtown multi modal transportation hub. Looks as if the total cost will run around $14.5 million