The Milwaukee media says it’s so. Radio stations say it’s so. Opinion columnists say it’s so. That means it’s right, right?
With the announcement of the future creation of a high-speed rail system between Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago, the location of Madison’s station has been a source of controversy in more than one way.
While politicians in Madison have been fighting over where the new station should be located — the Dane County Airport, proposed Yahara Station, or possibly a William Street location — the Milwaukee media and conservative opponents of the project have been reporting the station will be located at the airport.
Milwaukee media reports
Part of the confusion comes from 2009 when the state first applied for federal funds as part of the Federal Railroad Administration’s High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program to build the new high-speed rail.
At the time, the only option proposed for the Madison station was at the airport. Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokesperson Chris Klein told The Badger Herald on Oct. 5, 2009 the application assumed the Madison station would be at the airport.
Since then, Milwaukee media outlets, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have been reporting the station will be located at the Dane County Regional Airport because the location is tied to the funding.
For example, a Jan. 28 article read: “The proposal for the federal dollars lists stops on the Milwaukee-to-Madison route in Brookfield, Oconomowoc, Watertown and at the Dane County Regional Airport.”
A Feb. 11 article also read: “Walker said the fast trains wouldn’t be as swift as driving a car, when factoring in time needed to get to the Amtrak station in Milwaukee and time to get from a proposed rail station at the Madison airport.”
It is not only the news articles, but also opinion columnists who are reinforcing this idea. Patrick McIlheran from the Journal Sentinel wrote a column March 3 entitled “High-speed rail: greatest con on Earth.” In it, he argued buses are more effective because, “It doesn’t cost $66 a ticket, but $38. Instead of 70 minutes, it takes 80 or 90 minutes, but while the train will get you to Madison’s airport, the bus goes to the city center or campus….”
Radio host Vicki McKennas from AM1130 in Milwaukee also critiqued the high-speed rail several times on her daily news talk radio show, saying the station at the airport is ill-conceived and practically worthless.
Part of the critique by conservative opponents of the plan has hinged on the airport location being inconvenient and unnecessary considering the bus routes from Milwaukee to Madison go through the downtown area. If the station is located more than 3 miles from the center of the city, the high speed rail project becomes far less attractive to travelers.
Since the application for federal funds and for state funding assumed the station would be located at the Dane County Airport, the Milwaukee media has assumed that is where the location must be.
However, upon closer review of both the application to the federal government and to the state’s Joint Committee on Finance, no location of Madison’s station is specified, instead leaving the decision up to the municipalities.
Federal and state funding approved
Gov. Jim Doyle submitted Wisconsin’s application for federal funds to the FRA Oct. 2, 2009.
“It said that other than there being intermediate stops … there shall be a station located in Madison and that the determination as to where it will be located will be part of the process we are funding under this high speed rail program,” FRA spokesperson Warren Flatau said. “It’s really at this point a local matter.”
The application lists five stations, some yet to be built, on the new high-speed rail line in Milwaukee, Brookfield, Oconomowoc, Watertown and Madison.
Under the proposal for the Madison station, it says it will be “planned with connections to downtown, the State Capitol, convention center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dane County Regional Airport and the City of Madison Metro Transit.” It added that local municipalities would be responsible for constructing and operating the stations.
“The FRA does not take a position in [the station’s location] … as long as it is consistent with objectives of high speed rail program, that any location selected should deliver public transportation benefits, promote community livability and economic development,” Flatau said.
All in all, Wisconsin asked for $817,613,296 for the entire project.
It also gave a projected timeline that spans from October 2009, when the project was initiated, until Jan. 14, 2016 when all work will be complete and the high-speed train’s speed will be increased from a test 79 miles per hour to the maximum 110 miles per hour.
Station construction, beginning with preliminary engineering to the final design and construction, is expected to be complete Dec. 28, 2012.
The construction of the rail is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2015, and the train sets are expected to be complete Dec. 28, 2012, with the first rail service initiation at 79 miles per hour to begin on Jan. 1, 2013.
In the end, the federal government granted Wisconsin $810 million for the project, more than $7 million short of the requested funds.
On Feb. 16, the state’s Joint Committee on Finance voted to approve the $810 million in federal stimulus money to create the high-speed rail.
A majority of the money will go to create the line between Madison and Milwaukee, $12 million will go toward improving the existing rail between Chicago and Milwaukee and $1 million will be allocated to a planning study on the feasibility of eventually extending the line from Madison to the Twin Cities.
In the proposal approved by the Joint Committee on Finance under the subsection “Passenger Stations,” the committee approves $9 million for the design and construction of the Madison station, adding, “Each affected municipality would be responsibility for the design and construction phase of the stations” with no reference to a station at the airport.
Possible station locations
Since the high-speed rail station does not need to be built at the Dane County Regional Airport, other station locations have been proposed, with Yahara Station emerging as a strong contender.
The Yahara Station would be on the near-east side of Madison, between the Yahara River, First Street and East Johnson and East Washington avenues. Only 1.6 miles from the Capitol — 3.5 miles closer than the airport — this location is already at the crossroads of many bus routes, a bike path and major city roads.
It is also the favored location by many politicians, including Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Dane County Board of Supervisors Chair Scott McDonell.
Cieslewicz thinks the closer the station can be to downtown, the more benefit it can provide to Madison residents and students, Chief of Staff Janet Piraino said.
She added if the Yahara Station is the closest the FRA will allow, he’ll take it. However, if it can be closer, such as at Monona Terrace, that would be his first choice.
Patrick McDonnell, co-chair of the Campaign for Yahara Station, has said the Yahara site would be a better catalyst for development and 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 in an earlier interview with The Badger Herald.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, however, still maintains a station at the airport has significant advantages, including multi-modal connections and more available parking space.
In the end, the Milwaukee media and critics have been mistaken on the location of the new station which, if popular support is any indication, seems more likely to be located at the Yahara Station rather than the farther Dane County Regional Airport.
