As Wisconsin awaits federal funding for a high-speed passenger rail, some Madison residents are proposing an alternative to the Dane County Regional Airport as the rail station’s site.

Located at the intersection of 1st Street and East Washington Avenue, the proposed Yahara Station would be located on the already existing mainline track from Milwaukee to Madison. The site is 1.6 miles from the Capitol, making it 3.5 miles closer to downtown Madison than the airport.

Its proximity to downtown, Yahara Station supporters maintain, is one of site’s best features.

“The reason for supporting it is that it gets people so much closer to downtown,” Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, said. “It will be a hassle for people to get downtown from the airport.”

Mary Lang Sollinger, Downtown Coordinating Committee member and Yahara Station advocate, said in her opinion passengers entering the city should be exposed to Madison’s greatest attraction: its downtown.

“Our capitol is a major gateway to downtown,” Sollinger said. “It’s quite spectacular, and to have people get off there, you feel you are in Madison.”

The citizen-run advocacy group Dane Alliance for Rational Transportation has spearheaded a campaign for the Yahara Station, based off of the initial proposal by local urban planner Barry Gore.

Sollinger said she is excited for the project because of the potential economic development on East Washington.

“The Yahara Station will be a catalyst to build East Wash.,” Sollinger said.

After all, Yahara proponents argue, economic development was a major goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“There are arguments to be made that the stimulus package was intended to spur economic development, and that there is more room for economic development around the Yahara Station than the airport,” Eagon said.

Sollinger acknowledged the potential for the Yahara Station to develop into a multi-modal transportation center with its proximity to 14 Madison Metro bus routes and the interstate.

With the federal funding application due Oct. 2, opponents of the Yahara Station claim it is too late to introduce new station site proposals that could make the state look unprepared for the project.

“Since the deadline is so quickly approaching, city officials are worried that if it looks like we’re not shovel-ready, it could jeopardize the funding,” Eagon said.

It may not come down to the airport site versus the Yahara location, however. Eagon said recently there have been efforts to build two stations instead of one.

For the time being, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has not taken a definitive stance on the station debate.

“He is certainly open to a discussion of the location,” spokesperson Rachel Strauch-Nelson said. “He has met with folks about the Yahara Station. He thinks that that location has merit and wants to look into it.”