Dixon funds marquee train station

06/29/2005 06:49:14 AM
By David Henson/Staff Writer

One of the smallest towns in Solano County moved a sizable step closer to connecting by rail to two of California's biggest cities.

The Dixon City Council approved Tuesday night a $1.25 million contract with a Vacaville-based company to construct the marquee train station that essentially will complete the city's Multi-Modal Transportation Center.

The building should establish the city as a future stop for the Sacramento- and Bay Area-bound passenger trains that currently zip through without a pause.

"I'm glad to see this move forward," Vice Mayor Gil Vega said. "I believe regional transportation's challenge, especially for small communities such as Dixon and others, is for it to move outside the large metropolitan areas like Sacramento and San Francisco."

Swank Construction, which was awarded the bid from a pool of six applicants, expects to begin construction as early as August and complete the building by spring.

Completing the transportation center, which already has parking spaces and slots for buses to pick up passengers, puts Dixon well ahead of its neighbors in regard to solving gridlock issues on Interstate 80, Vega added.

"Incrementally, we're getting closer to where we can restore passenger rail service to Dixon," he said.

Swank's bid was the lowest, but still more than the original $1.1 million budget. However, the increased cost was not unexpected since the first estimate was calculated a year ago and did not take into account increased construction costs.

A set of wooden benches in the plans was deleted and an additional $200,000 from the Redevelopment Agency's budget will be applied to make up the difference.

David Henson can be reached at dixon@thereporter.com