Jim Moll may not be the smartest man in Springfield, but the Hanson Professional Services engineer sounded like it during a public meeting held last week to discuss progress on a rail line under construction along 10th Street.
The new line will replace tracks along Third Street. Moll's been in charge of the $353 million project for more than a decade, and he says it's on time and on budget. The feds gave the green light in 2012 and have paid millions of dollars since then to make it happen – there remains a $60 million gap, Moll says, but he's confident that the money will come. He seems to know every detail, from construction costs to whether charging stations for electric vehicles will be included in a planned transportation center adjacent to the Sangamon County courthouse on Ninth Street.