A multi-million dollar public safety and transit center is coming to East St. Louis

Kelsey Landis
·3 min read

Editor’s note: This article was updated at 9:30 a.m. Thursday to correct the location of Chestnut Health Services’ transit location. The office is located at the Belleville Transit Center.

Nearly $10 million in state money will pay for a new public safety and transit operations building at the Emerson Park Station in East St. Louis.

The 16,000-square-foot, two-story building at 905 N. 11th St. is expected to take 20 months to build. If everything goes according to plan, the state money will cover the entire cost, said St. Clair County Transit District Managing Director Ken Sharkey.

Emerson Park is the third to last MetroLink and bus station in Illinois before crossing into Missouri.

The station will be home to offices for the St. Clair County Mass Transit District, the sheriff’s department and a 911 call center.

“This facility answers a lot of questions the public has had about safety on Metro,” St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern said Wednesday at a news conference in East St. Louis.

The proximity to MetroLink and buses will allow dispatchers to quickly communicate with officers and transit operators if a problem arises, Kern said. Fiber-optic cables will connect MetroLink stations along the entire bi-state route to the Emerson Park Station.

“Quick communications, that’s one of the big weaknesses we’ve had on Metro that we’re solving with this facility,” Kern said. “There are people who rely on this transportation ... every day to get to work, to be able to provide for their families and we want to be able to make that provision for them in a safe manner. This building helps us to do that.”

Demolition of the existing building at the station is expected to begin in early summer, Sharkey said. MetroLink rail and bus service will not be disrupted.

State money is expected to pay for a 16,000-square-foot, two-story public safety and transit building at 905 N. 11th St. at the Emerson Park Station.
State money is expected to pay for a 16,000-square-foot, two-story public safety and transit building at 905 N. 11th St. at the Emerson Park Station.

Once the Illinois Department of Transportation gives final approval to the state’s grant for the project, the county will begin soliciting bids. The bid amounts will determine if the state’s $9.9 million will cover all costs, Sharkey said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, such a project would typically take 14 months, but it could take as many as 20 months to complete with supply chain and labor issues, Sharkey said.

The state money comes from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois plan, a $45 billion infrastructure package passed in 2019. State Rep. LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, said the Emerson Park project represents investment in communities “overlooked and under-invested in for decades.”

“Through consistent investment here, we will lift up the entire metro-east area,” Greenwood said.

At the Belleville Transit Center, which is being renovated, Chestnut Health Systems will double its staff size to help riders experiencing mental health issues and homelessness. Staff will ride transit in Illinois, including to and from Emerson Park, Sharkey said.

The governor also announced $21 million for America’s Central Port District in Granite City, with $13 million going toward a sediment reduction project in Madison Harbor where barges are loaded.

Illinois Secretary of Transportation Omer Osman said ports “offer a gateway between your region and a global marketplace.” Illinois moves 1.2 billion tons of goods through road, rail, air and water annually, Osman said, with 108 million of those tons valued at $31 billion moving over water.