You’ve probably heard the term "the other side of the tracks," which has been used in books and movies to describe a town or city that has been divided down the middle by railroad tracks.
Well, it’s not just a literary device. This happened in a lot of places, including Pocatello, where railroad tracks have caused a split between the downtown core and Idaho State University, making it unsafe to walk or bike across the quarter mile of rail yard.
Pocatello’s mayor, Brian Blad, wanted to find a way to reconnect his city, and after a lot of time and energy, he overcame some negative feedback and won an $8 million grant to bring the two sides back together. Mayor Blad joined Idaho Matters to tell us the story of how this happened.
