[milwaukee-electric] Fwd: Milwaukee getting back on board after 51 years.

[LouRugani]

--- In WisconsinRailroading at yahoogroups.com:

Streetcar plan aimed at east side commuters
By Larry Sandler of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Sept. 18, 2009

Plans for a $64 million Milwaukee streetcar line have shifted toward a commuter-oriented route that would connect lower east side neighborhoods with downtown office buildings, veering away from a more tourist-themed loop around downtown attractions, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says.

City planners are studying three route options, all of which would run from the downtown Amtrak-Greyhound station and the Midwest Airlines Center to the intersection of E. Ogden and N. Prospect avenues, with a possible extension to E. Brady St.

In future years, the system could be extended to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Riverwest, Walker's Point and other neighborhoods within a few miles of the original route, depending on whether funding is available.

Barrett will unveil the route options Friday morning at a community development summit meeting on regional transportation, sponsored by the Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin and the Greater Milwaukee Committee. The public can review and comment on the streetcar plans at a public information session from 3 to 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway.

The streetcar plans are part of the Milwaukee Connector study, a joint transit planning effort by the city, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Center District and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. The study was aimed at finding ways to use $91.5 million in long-idle federal transit aid, until Congress finally settled the issue by handing $54.5 million to the city for streetcars and $36.6 million to the county for express buses.

City officials plan to use modern streetcars, a lower-cost form of the light rail operating in Seattle, Tacoma, Wash., and Portland, Ore.

The streetcars would operate in regular traffic lanes and would not take away any street parking, said downtown Ald. Bob Bauman, chairman of the Common Council's Public Works Committee. Planners are considering technology that would turn traffic signals green as streetcars approach, City Engineer Jeff Polenske said.

Barrett's initial streetcar route would have looped around downtown from the train station, leading to criticism that it would serve visitors better than residents. The new route options are focused on connecting densely populated neighborhoods with major employment centers and hotels, Barrett and Bauman said.

But the depot is still a key stop, anticipating that plans for commuter rail and high-speed rail would bring in more visitors who could use a transit link for the last leg of their trip, Bauman said. The streetcar could be operating by 2014, and rail links to Chicago would likely be beefed up if the Windy City lands the 2016 Olympics, Barrett said.

If authorities can agree on funding, the KRM Commuter Link rail line could be in place by 2015 or 2016, a timetable that might be accelerated for the Olympics, Ken Yunker, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, said Wednesday. The $206 million line would run seven round trips each weekday to connect Milwaukee, Racine and the southern suburbs to Kenosha, where passengers could transfer to the Chicago area's Metra commuter trains.

Meanwhile, Midwestern governors are pressing the federal government for $3.5 billion to start a Chicago-based high-speed rail network, including a $519 million Milwaukee-to-Madison route that would connect to Amtrak's existing Chicago-to-Milwaukee Hiawatha line. The Milwaukee-to-Madison line could start service by 2013.

For the streetcar, city officials are required to match the federal grant by paying 15% of construction costs. Barrett said that money could come from borrowing or a tax incremental financing district. Other options are under study to pay operating costs, Polenske said.

Barrett said the city would find ways to fund the streetcars without using property taxes. Although the city is facing a $90 million budget shortfall next year, Barrett and Bauman said the streetcar line was a necessary investment to keep Milwaukee economically competitive with other cities that have or are building rail lines.

"We cannot just stagnate as a community," Barrett said.