Private Transportation Systems
Public transportation and the paying for it’s construction, maintenance and operations, with private taxpayers investment, will cease over the next 10-years.
In Milwaukee, the proof is in the rejection of every type of new rail project including: commuter rail using existing tracks, new High Speed Rail tracks, light rail, and now the Milwaukee street car. It is as if “any rail” in Milwaukee is the strategic plan.
A privatized commuter rail, the West line to Brookfield, as illustrated below, is the only feasible passenger rail that will truly service downtown with additional commuter customers and measurable economic development. This 11 mile route has the ridership levels and cost control apparatus with easy stations and existing rail already in place.
The largest obstacle is negotiating a track lease with Union Pacific railroad.
The west leg links Summerfest Station in downtown Milwaukee with downtown Brookfield. Proposed stations at the Multi-modal Hub, Marquette, Miller Park, downtown Wauwatosa, Regional Medical Center and Elm Grove complete the line. The graphic at right illustrates the target area where ridership projections were conducted.
Why spend $120,000,000 to build 3-miles of new track on existing bus routes, moving fewer people between neighborhoods when downtown Milwaukee could implement a commuter rail line for less.
The blue line illustrates the proposed 3 mile Milwaukee street car line. The red line, and follow the track all the way to Brookfield, is available, highly maintained, links to many major trip generators and is feasible to be run by private enterprise in partnership with state and local governments along the corridor.
Summerfest Station at Wishbone Turn draws the highest ridership opportunity in the entire downtown district. An estimate of 450,000 riders per year is derived from an independent private study of likely ridership. Landscape Architects, Inc. conducted a feasibility study and ridership projections based on the underwriting principles of private enterprise.
Summerfest Station
Miller Park Station
