Wednesday, January 28, 2009
From an article by in The Daily Reporter:
Wisconsin does not have enough money to pay for the estimated $500 million Milwaukee-Madison high-speed rail line, but the state might kick off the project anyway.
“I keep going back to the fact that this is a multiyear project,” said Randall Wade, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s passenger rail manager. “There are things we can do immediately, and I think we should start as soon as possible.”
But before focusing on the Milwaukee-Madison line, WisDOT must consider capacity upgrades to its Milwaukee-Chicago service, which Wade said sets ridership records every month.
Gov. Jim Doyle put $80 million in the state budget to spark Wisconsin involvement in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, a multistate effort to coordinate and expand high-speed rail use. WisDOT, Wade said, will use that money for upgrades to the Chicago-Milwaukee line and the Milwaukee-Watertown portion of the line to Madison.
The state agency also asked for $137 million in federal stimulus money for high-speed rail projects. Although Wade said that money could pay for track and signal improvements along the Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison route, the combined $217 million would only be enough to establish a passenger-ready line as far as Watertown.
“(Finishing it) is still going to be dependent upon federal funding,” he said.
If finishing the high-speed rail line between Watertown and Madison takes several years, it could test the patience of people in the capital region.
1 comments:
One marvels at the transportation system in Europe, which can zip you across a city like Vienna in minutes, while the SUV drivers are still trying to find a parking space, and figure out if putting two one hr parking slips on their dashboard will avoid a ticket. Much has been said about this of course, but these complex systems weren't built in a day, one must start somewhere, so I like the idea here for Milwaukee - start small, with a plan. But one must start. I'm sure many will be thinking of this as they try to navigate through the isthmus, with University Ave, as of today, turned into a one lane road.
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