The Campaign for Yahara Station presented its proposal to the Monona Terrace Board of Directors Support Services Committee Friday, while another group proposed a possible station location on Williamson street.
The campaign advocates for Madison’s high-speed rail station to be located on the near-east side, between the Yahara River, First Street, and East Johnson and East Washington avenues.
Co-chair Patrick McDonnell and member Fred Bartol proposed the multi-modal transportation center be constructed along the existing rail corridor running near the Yahara River.
Already the crossroads of many bus routes, a bike pat, and vehicular traffic, they say the sight could eventually connect to a future Madison commuter rail. Located 1.6 miles from Capitol Square, the Yahara site is an alternative to the proposed Dane County Airport station.
“There are three benefits right off the bat,” Bartol said, regarding the Yahara site. “Urban connectivity, multi-modal connectivity and redevelopment opportunity.”
The airport is five miles from downtown, three miles farther than the Yahara site.
Bartol noted currently only one bus circulates between the airport and the west transfer point. He said he assumes people will take the high-speed line to downtown destinations in order to not use the Madison airport. He says an airport station is more practical at a hub like Milwaukee’s Mitchell Airport.
Bartol described an airport station as “bringing people within sight of the capital and then taking them three miles out, at which point they will have to find their own transportation to travel back in.”
Milwaukee has both an airport and a downtown station. The renovation of the downtown multi-modal station cost around $17 million, Bartol told the committee. There are no specific station plans yet for a Yahara station and thus no cost estimates available at this time.
Bartol said design and ideas so far are being evaluated from a feasibility and engineering standpoint and not necessarily by public opinion. The committee questioned the lack of market-based research to determine where users would like the station. Bartol agreed, and hopes the studies will come soon.
A group advocating a station on Williamson Street also presented its ideas on Friday. McDonnell and Bartol believe Yahara is the better option. A Williamson Street station would require new rail to be constructed and the train would have to back into the station.
The Yahara site won’t require the train to back in to the station, which will be the case if the station is located any closer to downtown. Bartol noted that all seconds count, especially in the trains early years of operation when commute time will be comparable to driving.
The Yahara site is being called a catalyst for development. McDonnell said he believes the multi-modal Yahara station has the potential to be the economic development story of Madison for decades to come.
“Bringing the Amtrak high-speed rail into this zone would be an incredible catalyst to kick start the redevelopment of this area,” McDonnell said.
