Milwaukee Transportation
Milwaukee is a great city. I've lived in many large cities: Akron, Detroit, Orlando, New York, Boston... and I'd have to say that Milwaukee is one of my favorites. I would rank it as #2 on my list.
Boston would have to be first on my list with Milwaukee as a very very close second. Both cities are some of the cleanest I have lived in. They both have a variety of events throughout the year, so it's hard to get bored. The only reason Milwaukee isn't first is because it lacks a reliable and usable public transportation system.
Sure, we have buses. But the problem is that if you need to go anywhere not directly on the bus line or if you don't want to spend all day riding the bus to run errands, there's no way to get around. I would love to be able to take the bus downtown and then ride my bike to go everywhere I need to go, but the buses aren't set up with bike racks.
I've called the Transportation Department about this and got answers of: "The garage isn't big enough to hold all of the busses if they have racks on them." and "The racks cost too much." and "We're adding more bus lines so that you can go more places." Unfortunately, I don't know how valid the issue of garage space is, but as for the other two answers... the bus lines have been cut... NOT added to... and there's a federal grant that would cover almost the entire cost of the bike racks... so they can't use those two excuses.
Apart from the bike/bus issue, we really need a commuter line. I know that we have something like $98 Million to build a public transportation system and just can't agree on what type. Here's a hint... the Waukesha-Milwaukee commute on I94 is hell!
With the Marquette interchange already torn up, why are we not putting a rail down the middle? It would certainly save some money to do it now rather than trying to figure out where to put it later and having to tear everything up again. Also, to save some room, it could even be a double decker train where westbound tracks are above eastbound.
I know there's talk of the Milwaukee-Chicago extension of the Metra... but let's start with the Waukesha line first. It's the worst traffic problem and many of the people who live there work downtown. Also, unlike the Metra system, let's have a car for people with bikes. That way if people work 4 blocks from the train, they can bike the rest of the way to work and at the end of the day, they can bike from the train to home.
Apart from time savings of not having to wait for an hour in stopped traffic and not having to try to find parking downtown, a Milwaukee-Waukesha line already has another advantage over the current system... Park and Ride. The line could be set up to use, as train stops and parking lots for commuters, the I94 Park and Rides that are already in existence.
One thing that I do know about public transportation is that as gas prices rise, the demand and use of public transportation also rises. Also, if the system isn't usable, people won't use it. A Milwaukee-Waukesha line would probably be one of the most used commuter lines we could construct. It would also help to revitalize areas of downtown and the night life. (When people ride the train, they don't have to worry so much about who's the D.D. for the night.)
A list of stops on the line could be:
*Waukesha I94 & G:
*Waukesha I94 & F: Quad Graphics Pewaukee
*Waukesha I94 & 18/Y
Milwaukee I94 & Moorland: Quad Graphics New Berlin
Milwaukee I94 & Mayfair: Quad Graphics West Allis/Zoo
*Milwaukee Petit/State Fair
Milwaukee Miller Park
Milwaukee 27th Street
Milwaukee Pottawatomie/Marquette
Milwaukee St.Paul/Amtrak
Milwaukee Summerfest/Art, Science Museums
*Denotes Park and Ride stop
To make this work for more than partying... you would also need to have it hook up with a good downtown transportation system. This could be buses, monorail, or light rail and would have to go to or be very near to places of higher population and places that people go for business or pleasure. It would most definitely have to hit Water St. bars and Theater district, the mall downtown, Brady St., the convention center, hotels, Harley, and yes... the airport. (The ferry would be nice. I guess you could make a 794 line from the airport, Bay View, and the ferry, up to Summerfest and hook it up there.)
1 comment:
We pedaled our bikes from Minneapolis to Milwaukee last summer, it took 5 days. Tried to get my car-free friend who lives at Vliet @ 57th Street to meet us at our downtown hotel so he could join us for an urban ride. I said - just put your bike on the bus. He said he would love to and then told us about the lack of bike racks on the buses. What a downer.
Post a Comment