Good news for Metra commuters who take the train to the Kane County Government Center or use the Geneva station to board Metra trains.

The city has received notice that Metra has OK’d construction of a third deck that will add about 180 parking spaces to the 360 that already are there.

Exactly when construction will start and end, no one knows, or at least they’re not estimating at this time. The next step is to make sure there’s a place to park the vehicles of commuters who now use the facility. The plan most likely will be a park-and-ride option, in which commuters can park at the First Baptist Church parking lot at 2300 South St., then shuttle to the downtown Geneva train station.

Approval of the deck was a long time coming. Geneva had the OK back in 2011 but when bids came in over the $3.3 million expected price, the community had to go back to the drawing board, according to summaries in the Daily Herald, Trib Local, Kane County Chronicle and other media sources.

Total cost of the project is $4.48 million, according to the Chronicle story. Walsh Construction has been awarded the contract.

Read More

• Kane County Chronicle:  Long wait over as Geneva OKs contract
• Daily Herald: 3rd level for Geneva parking deck is a go
• Trib Local:  Third level OK’d for parking garage near Metra station in Geneva