According to the Department of Transportation, up to $100 million of the $810 million allocation for the Milwaukee to Madison connection could be spent on the high speed rail project by early 2011. These funds will be used to finalize the design and to get construction and upgrading of tracks underway.

On Thursday the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released nearly $80 million of the $8 billion allocated to fund high-speed rail. This is a historic milestone for the build-out of high-speed rail across America as it’s the first time the federal government has released any of the funds to the states.

It’s time for a clear brand for high-speed rail in the Midwest. The discussion surrounding the Milwaukee to Madison high-speed rail grant has made the need for a coherent brand clear with people confused if the new train will be a stand-alone route, somehow connected to the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line, similar to the Amtrak Empire Builder, or a competitor to the existing Amtrak Hiawatha line.

The intercity bus service famous for their $1 tickets has substantially scaled back their operations in and out of Milwaukee. Megabus provided a wealth of options to and from Chicago just a few months ago, and their scaling back of a few daily runs in December wasn’t cause for much concern. Apparently, we should have viewed it as a sign of bad things to come though, with what used to be six trips each way everyday trimmed first to four, and now down to two.

The residents of Waukesha County will love the Madison to Milwaukee high-speed rail line once it’s up and running, and not for any reason that readily jumps out at you. Certainly residents of Waukesha County will likely use the train to get to Madison, but that’s not a big sell to the residents. Taking a train from Brookfield or Oconomowoc to the Madison Airport just isn’t all that appealing because of the distance. What is appealing though? First-class comfort from Milwaukee’s western suburbs to the heart of Chicago.

Megabus, the no-frills intercity bus company with an intriguing pricing scheme starting at $1, has revised their service schedule between Milwaukee and Chicago. Unfortunately two trips have been eliminated in each direction. One can only assume it’s because of the economy and that January through March has always been a down travel period for Megabus (something they compensate for by giving away 100,000 tickets).

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.

As the RTA inches closer and closer to reality in Milwaukee, what else is going on in transit elsewhere in the country?

The Milwaukee Brewers, in an attempt to fight back against the Chicago Cubs fans and their Wrigley Field North signs and shirts, are offering a promotion to send Brewer fans to Wrigley Field in September via Amtrak in hopes of turning it into Miller Park South.

Barack Obama seems to have his head in the right place when thinking about the need for mobility in a regional sense. He doesn’t advocate New York to Chicago high speed rail or other long routes, something that a plane does and will probably always do better. He doesn’t talk about cost inefficient monorail technology or other fancy, whiz-bang technologies.

Obama recognizes that high speed rail is the perfect mode of transit for regional connectivity and that the Midwest is a good place for that implementation.