The Danville City Council Public Works Committee has approved a plan to apply for up to a half-million dollar grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Local Federal Rail Safety Program. If Danville receives the grant, the plan will be a series of electronic signs around town warning motorists of nearby railroad crossing delays, giving them time to find alternatives. As City Engineer Sam Cole explains, a big decision would be where exactly to put the warning signs.
AUDIO: There will be an element of study to just figure out the best locations. At least from the get-go, we’re not going to provide notifications to everybody. But we would have the ability to add additional boards later on.
The Public Works Committee has also approved moving forward on the additional $150,000 in COVID relief money Danville has received. Danville is among just a couple dozen municipalities in the nation receiving this extra Community Development Block Grant money. Director of Community Development Logan Cronk says, following up on a survey that was put out, these “C-V Dollars” will most likely go to qualifiying small businesses that need assistance.
AUDIO: We’re going to set up this grant application, which I would imagine will be available in a month or two. We’ll do another public release; let all the small businesses and micro-enterprises know that this application is out there.
Meanwhile, Danville Mass Transit Director Lisa Beith saw committee approval for an application for an IDOT Public Transportation Capital Assistance grant.
AUDIO: What we want to do is we need to add on more parking spaces for the buses. And our offices need to be expanded. I mean we have no room for customers; we have no room for meetings. That office was built for a 1980s crew.
In addition, Beith says they will be having the annual “stuff the bus with school supplies” promotion, coming up July 28th, 29th, and 30th, and August 4th, 5th, and 6th.
