Year after year, Indiana's congressional offices could count on a visit by the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce impressing upon them the importance of the city's railroad relocation project.
Lawmakers say that persistence helped city officials win tens of millions in federal dollars.
In the 1970s, the federal government was still completing the Interstate Highway System so transportation projects were a national priority. Congress created a railroad relocation program for 15 cities. Four more, including Lafayette, were eventually added. Current and former Capitol Hill staffers who have worked on the Lafayette project doubt that Congress would create such a specialized program now. The federal government is more likely to divvy up funds among the states and let them decide how to spend it, said Doug Wasitis, who was an aide to former Indiana Rep. John Myers.