So, in case you haven’t heard, or intend on sending $800 million to Texas, Florida, California, or Illinois, then it is apparent that high speed rail service is coming to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Though, it will take a few years to built and get up to speed.

In the near term the Midwest High Speed Rail Association (MHSRA) is coming to Milwaukee.  They will be holding a brown bag lunch to discuss the soon to be built high-speed rail system.  There will be a presentation by MHSRA executive director Rick Harnish regarding the status of high speed rail in the Midwest.  The presentation will be on held at 12 p.m. Thursday July 22nd at the Milwaukee Public Market (400 N. Water Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202).

It’s all about Chicago, the capital of the Midwest. It always has been. The $823 million in federal funds isn’t about building a connection between Milwaukee and Madison, it’s about growing the link between those two cities and Chicago. There will be plenty of riders between Milwaukee and Madison, but viewing the line as simply a system for that is extremely misguided. Trains that originate in Madison will terminate in Chicago and vice versa.

What does that mean for residents of Waukesha County? A simple drive to a suburban rail station with free parking. Jump on a train with seats far more comfortable and spacious than what Midwest Airlines formerly offered. Pop open that laptop, hop on the wifi network, and enjoy a stress-free ride into The Loop in Chicago. Riders will be able to rack up billable hours, get caught up on email, read a book, or sleep. All options that are nearly impossible when driving. Get off the train and head to your destination in the heart of Chicago, by foot, cab, or another transit option.

Residents of Waukesha County have been able to accomplish this by driving to downtown Milwaukee and getting on the train at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. That’s worked exceptionally well to-date, with ridership doubling on the Hiawatha over the past 10 years. The Madison high-speed line will extend the existing Hiawatha line through Waukesha County with a stop in Brookfield and Oconomowoc, making the trip shorter and more convenient, with increased service frequency. What’s not to like about a frequent, first-class train line with a stop close to your house with free parking?

If that’s not enough, the next planned extension to Minneapolis/St. Paul through Madison with potential stops in Wisconsin Dells, La Crosse, and Eau Claire will help increase the utility of the line.

Photo courtesy of Trek Bikes

Ride the Drive?  Just seventy miles to the west, a successful car-free day, often referred to as a Ciclovía, or in the U.S. Sunday Streets, brought thousands of people out of their homes, and into the street to enjoy their city.  At its simplest one of these events, closes off a few miles of city streets to automobile traffic for the day, much like a street festival does, but larger and it doesn’t focus on food, beer, and music.  Street vendors will setup along the street, there could be a space for dancing and exercise, a touch of live music, maybe some bicycle education, but really it is a street festival for bicyclists, walkers, joggers, rollerbladers , and anyone else who wants to see their city from a new point of view.  Simply, it is an event where families, children, and all residents can enjoy the city, breath a bit of cleaner air, and get a little exercise in the process.

Events like these always raise concerns such as, “how will I get around if the street is closed?”, “or will this hurt my business?” but afterwards the biggest concern is “when will the city hold the next car-free day?”  Often enough, streets in downtown Milwaukee on a Sunday are quite empty of significant automobile traffic, possibly because of Milwaukee’s vibrant Saturday night, and every year streets are shutdown for days on end for festivals like Bastille Days, so it ought to be possible for one Sunday during the Summer to close down a few streets, and open them up to people.

Madison had Ride the Drive, how about Roll Down Water, Bike Brady, Stroll State, Bike the Hoan, or quite simply Sunday Streets for Milwaukee?

Jim Doyle and Barack Obama, the golden ticket to high-speed rail in Wisconsin?

Things look good for high-speed rail (110mph max speed) to be connecting Milwaukee and Madison courtesy of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.  The state has actively drafted plans for the route and conducted environmental assessments to put Wisconsin as close to first in line as possible if and when capital funding were to become available.  The stimulus package provides just the perfect opportunity.

While we won’t know if Wisconsin gets the funds until the final months of the year at the earliest, the announcement that Talgo will locate in Wisconsin and that $47 million in train equipment will be purchased from Talgo seems to indicate that Governor Doyle is either extremely confident we’ll get the money, or has received a verbal promise.

Milwaukee has recently invested in an excellent, centrally-located intermodal station that will provide an excellent hub on the line.  The Milwaukee Intermodal Station itself is near a number of bus transit routes, will likely be served by the coming streetcar, and is even within walking distance of numerous destinations.  It also features a lot of available, low-cost parking, which encourages many to take the Amtrak Hiawatha to Chicago from further off neighborhoods and suburbs.  Also important, the development potential of the site is limited only the looming presence of Interstate 794, something that eventually be overcome.

The Milwaukee Intermodal Station is a welcoming hub for transit in Milwaukee.

Madison’s Plan

What does Madison have?  Well at the moment, nothing.  The plan is, however, for the stop to be located at the Dane County Airport in Madison.

What does the airport provide in terms of opportunity?  For starters at least a $12 cab ride to the Capitol.  Sure it provides parking, but at a cost greater than the parking in an urban location in Milwaukee.

There are few to no development opportunities at the airport itself, which of course enforces building height restrictions.  The proposed station site is a big parking lot shared with the airport that can never be developed, and it is constrained by a creek and other wetlands. Without connections to an urban context or a street grid, walking to the station will never happen, and taking a bus isn’t much better. The current single bus route that serves the airport  requires a transfer at Madison Metro’s North Transfer Point to reach downtown.

Yahara Station

Thankfully Madison-based urban planner Barry Gore provides a voice of reason and compromise between the WisDOT recommend to build the station on the mainline track at the airport versus bringing the train down Madison’s isthmus.  Gore advocates for placing the station at Burr Jones Field. This location, near the intersection of First Street and East Washington Avenue provides roughly 950 feet of undivided land stretching over to East Johnson Avenue, which he claims is enough to site the 600-foot-long station platform.  The site seems to be a logical compromise between an expensive downtown Madison station, and the remote Dane County Airport station, the Burr Jones Field stop, in-between Washington and Johnson on First Street, presents a wealth of opportunity.

Before diving into why Gore’s Yahara Station idea appears to make a lot of sense, it’s important to understand why an urban location was passed over in the first place by WisDOT.

1. Cost – A significant amount of track would have to be rebuilt to build a station closer to the Capital Square near the Monana Terrace convention center.

2. The fear of back tracking – With the of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative proposing to have a line from Chicago to the Twin Cities, going too far into the isthmus would require back tracking out onto the mainline, possibly adding twenty minutes to the trip.

The Yahara Station addresses those points and more.  The station wouldn’t require any back tracking, as the station’s location is on the track to go to the airport.  In fact, Yahara Station’s location is 3.4 miles closer to Milwaukee, and correspondingly 3.4 miles closer to downtown Madison.  According to Gore, if six trains run between Madison and Milwaukee a day as proposed the milage savings are incredible: Out to the airport and back is twice 3.4 miles, or 6.8 miles on every trip, 40.8 miles a day, 285 extra miles a week,  1244 miles a month, and 14,892 miles a year.  That’s before considering the savings on buses, taxis, and personal automobiles driving to and from the site.  Also considerable savings would be found in seven fewer crossing signals being forced to come down and block traffic on the train’s route to and from the airport.

The route into Madison the train would take with either proposal. The turning point is the proposed location of Yahara Station.

Short term cost savings are found at Yahara Station by shaving off 3.4 miles of track that need to be rebuilt. Keep in mind that there isn’t station at the airport currently either, so both stations would require new construction costs.

Transit access is far superior at the Yahara Station site, with 14 bus routes within a block of the proposed station, and eliminating the need for a transfer to get downtown.  The station is within cycle range of the UW campus, and offers a much cheaper cab ride to downtown.

The development potential of the Yahara Station site is nearly unlimited, compared to that of the airport site.  There isn’t much around the site at the moment, but that isn’t a bad thing.  Furthermore the developable parcels nearby would provide ample opportunity for firms looking to add locations in Madison to locate offices, as well as a logical spot to continue condo development as it spreads out from downtown.  Perhaps most importantly to those that would drive to the station, the currently under-utilized land would drive parking costs down for those looking to drive to the train.

Orientation of the station as well as likely land to be developed is pictured.

Potential Hold-Up?

What’s the hold-up with what seems such a logical plan?  The proposal by Gore came late in the process, and WisDOT is reluctant to change their plan in a way that might jeopardize the potential $500+ million in stimulus dollars needed for the project. Gore understands the timing issue, but doubts that such a change would jeopardize the funds.

A simple compromise seems to be take the clearly better station as a back-burner plan, get the funds from the stimulus dollars, and then change the plans during the final design process.  At this point no construction documents have been prepared for the project.  Scared of the federal government taking the funds?  Look at how long Milwaukee has held onto $91.5 million, which was originally $289 million for bus lanes on the interstate.

The airport plan will certainly hurt ridership on the line, and it’s fortunate that such a opportunity has presented itself in the Yahara Station to fix the potential misstep by WisDOT.

Why It Matters to Milwaukee

Why does this matter to Milwaukee?  The station’s location significantly affects the mobility of travelers from Milwaukee and Chicago upon arrival in Madison.  A more central location affords flexibility for spouses to work in different cities, greatly increasing the number of available jobs.  It allows students to more reliably get from one city to the other. A downtown-to-downtown connection also greatly increases the ability for businesses to collaborate and grow in both cities.

Additional Documents

• Yahara Station Overview Document
• Yahara Station Detailed Plan
• Gore’s Letter to Representative Pocan
• Why the Airport Station Won’t Work

If you’re still not convinced, enjoy this story.

Fast forward to 2013.

President Barack Obama, fresh off a narrow re-election victory over Sarah Palin, is celebrating the opening of new Amtrak service between his hometown of Chicago and Madison.

Obama is riding with Gov. Jim Doyle and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz as the train rumbles past East Towne and under Wisconsin 30 and starts across East Washington Avenue.

“There’s the Capitol,” says Obama, looking out the window of a new Spanish-built Talgo passenger car. But instead of slowing, the train sweeps around the corner at First Street and starts heading back out of town.

“Wait a second,” says the confused president. “I thought you promised we’d stop in Madison for a beer?”

Doyle looks sheepishly at Cieslewicz before answering.

“We will eventually stop, Mr. President, but the new Madison train station is actually out at the airport,” an embarrassed Doyle explains. “We’ll have to get a ride back into town.”

“Forget that,” says Obama, grabbing his briefcase and ordering the engineer to stop at East Johnson Street. “I’m thirsty. You airport guys can meet me later.”

Undoubtedly you’ve heard by now that the General Motors factory in my hometown of Janesville is closing. What many (politicians and residents alike) are not considering is the massive trickle down effect this is going to have on the rest of Janesville as a large source literally abandons the city. Sure the UAW has ensured that many of the employees at General Motors are not going to feel any financial pain for a long-time, but thousands of others are not as fortunate. Employees of Janesville-based GM part suppliers (of which there are many) are going to receive next to nothing as they lose their jobs in coming years.  And that’s just the start

This massive unemployment will have the effect of putting the hurt on numerous other local companies and institutions. The School District of Janesville will be faced to downsize in the face of falling property tax values (despite just having passed the largest referendum in Wisconsin history). Mercy Health System will certainly feel some pain as the number of patients remains largely steady, but their ability to pay diminishes. Oh, and the massive number of chain food choices (both fast and sit-down) that exist along Milton Avenue, look for their numbers to greatly diminish.

Assuming nothing drastic happens (read: no large employers opens shop in town or there is no mass migration from the city) Janesville residents are largely looking at a future of under-and-un-employment. Many of the GM employees will be offered jobs at other plants, but that doesn’t include suppliers and those who relied on serving them (the service industry the city seems to want to tout now).

To make matters worse, long-time Janesville employer Gilman (now split into two companies ThyssenKrupp Krause Inc. and ThyssenKrupp Drauz Nothelfer) announced they were closing and eliminating all 140 jobs. This was a local employer that at one time not too long ago employed nearly 500 people in Janesville, my father included.

Politicians, including Janesville-natives Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Paul Ryan, are already calling for aid packages or more money to be sunk into the city to encourage new employers in Janesville. Most of the companies that have recently opened (or considered opening) shop in Janesville are in the warehousing and distribution industry, an industry highly susceptible to losses from rising fuel costs (much like the SUV’s made in Janesville are). Spending money on tax breaks and credits to attract industry to Janesville seems like a losing battle does it not? Especially since they did just that a few years ago, and now are asking General Motors to pay the state back.

The fact is that companies will either consistently search for the best tax deal (leading to a long-term losing game for cities) or for the best existing environment. Beloit largely has Janesville beat on location in the wake of soaring fuel costs. Beloit is located at the intersection of Interstate’s 43 and 39/90 and is closer to Milwaukee, Rockford, and Chicago. Why would the state look to continue to pour money into Janesville then? Good question.

The state should instead take a radical approach. Jim Doyle and company should largely encourage the unemployed in Janesville to move to Milwaukee (or Madison). Why? There are more jobs in the Milwaukee area, and Milwaukee certainly has the capacity to create more jobs (look no further than the redevelopment occurring Menomonee Valley and soon the 30th Street Corridor). The old adage of “it takes money to make money” holds true in the globalization era. The big cities like Chicago are getting bigger and stronger, while the stagnant towns like Janesville and many other manufacturing towns are getting smaller.

The ironic fact is that a migration of residents to Milwaukee could actually reduce the unemployment in Milwaukee. Creating a larger base of skilled/trained individuals for jobs should only attract more companies to the region, or to expand operations in the case of existing ones.

How do we achieve this migration? Create marketing plans for Milwaukee, bring in relocation specialists to help the unemployed find work in Milwaukee, and offer tax incentives for relocating families.

While Wisconsin politicians for obvious reasons can not advocate residents to move to Chicago, the Windy City offers a substantial number of opportunities, arguably more than Milwaukee.

How do we preserve home values in Janesville and help Janesville adjust structurally? Implement an aggressive urban growth boundary that prevents building outside of designated areas to preserve the value of existing homes. This will not only limit of the dilution of home values, but encourage urban infill (through the redevelopment of existing properties) and encourage Janesville to kick to structurally kick its oil habit through reduced drive distances.

The City Council of Janesville must also actively seek to make opening businesses in Janesville as easy a process as possible. They should also seek to improve the efficiency of existing employers.

Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Highways (formerly Transportation) should also implement a legitimate mass-transit from Janesville to Milwaukee. While Van Galder/Coach USA provides a route to Madison, and Chicago, there is not a mass-transit to Milwaukee. In fact when I go to visit my parent’s house, I must first take a bus to Madison, then transfer to another to Janesville.

Janesville has a substantial agricultural base on which it can seek to orient itself around in the “ethanol era” where food prices currently only go up.

The most difficult thing that must be done in Janesville is to redevelop the Delevan Drive Industrial Corridor, for as it turns out Gilman and General Motors were not only in the same city, but next-door neighbors. This will likely mean dividing those properties into smaller units so businesses can locate there.

Wisconsin needs to do everything in its power to avoid Janesville becoming like Flint and so many other towns that have lost their largest employer. That starts with not pouring money into Janesville to give residents false hope.

• Seattle mayor Greg Nickels is working on a plan that will encourage all city employees to use public transportation, by giving the free transit passes.  Milwaukee should get behind this.
• The Daily Reporter has a good look at the issues affecting the 27th Street ramp off of Interstate 94.
• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has made a significant donation to promote the improvement of the Harambee neighborhood.  It would be great to see more companies jump on board to help the process along.
• Neal Peirce has a piece on the rebirth of rail as a well-traveled mode for inter-city movement.  He mentions how a leader is Frank Busalacchi, who ironically has been nothing but car happy in the past couple of years (failure of KRM funding source, expansion of I-94).
  • But state initiatives are also vital. Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi heads the "States for Passenger Rail Coalition" of 30 state transportation departments appealing for an 80-20 federal-state funding split to put some real steam behind rail expansion.
• The National Corridors Initiative is hosting a conference, "Carmichael Conference On The Future of American Transportation", in St. Louis discussing the promotion and expansion of inter-city rail travel in the United States.  I won’t be able to attend because of financial reasons (if you have $300 to pay for the conference and hotel, let me know), but look forward to seeing the results.  Inter-city transit is a huge boost for urban areas and Milwaukee could certainly use a boost with more linking with nearby Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, and Racine.
• The Milwaukee Public Library system will no longer transfer movies, television shows, or music CDs around the system and to the suburban libraries in a move that will cut costs and allow the system to be open longer.  I would like to see the system only transfer the media within Milwaukee and not to the suburbs, as I think it gives more access for the people of Milwaukee, especially those that benefit from the free resources of the library most.  Unfortunately, the system has decided to go with an all or nothing route.  I am glad that they chose this route over closing the library earlier though, as I think libraries having longer hours are a great way to deter juvenile crime.
• An intelligent look at how individual route management might work in New York City and does work in Copenhagen.  MCTS could use something like this for areas of its system to improve service.  Bus design and management should certainly be different for routes that serve UWM and Marquette vs those that serve primarily the workforce.