Finances for Milwaukee-Chicago service remain in question
By TOM DAYKIN
tdaykin@journalsentinel.comPosted: Jan. 6, 2007
The possible creation of a commuter rail system has the most potential to reduce the figurative distance between southeastern Wisconsin and Chicago, some civic and business leaders say.
It also figures to be an expensive project, with construction costs estimated at $237 million - a combination of federal, state and local funds. But some area officials, including Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, have said they would oppose a new sales tax to provide local funding, saying Milwaukee County residents already are taxed enough.
The service would run on existing railroad tracks from downtown Milwaukee to Kenosha, where it would link with Chicago's Metra rail system.
A commuter rail link from Milwaukee to Chicago - with stops at communities between both cities - would make it easier for professionals to live in southeastern Wisconsin and work in either or both cities, said Robert Mariano, chief executive officer at Roundy's Inc., the corporate parent of Pick 'n Save and other supermarket chains.
The system, known as the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line, or KRM Commuter Link, would provide more opportunities to travel by rail between southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Amtrak's trains run from Milwaukee to Chicago seven times daily. But once they leave downtown Milwaukee and Mitchell International Airport, those trains offer just two other stops - at Sturtevant, in Racine County, and in Glenview, Ill. - before they reach Union Station in downtown Chicago. A one-way fare is $21.
The KRM link would offer 14 round trips on weekdays, seven on weekends and a lot more destinations, including likely stops in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Caledonia, Racine, the Town of Somers and Kenosha. Shuttle service would connect travelers who stop in Cudahy to Mitchell airport. Fares would be similar to the Metra trains, at less than $10 one-way between Milwaukee and Kenosha.
The rail service could start by 2010, providing an alternative to driving on I-94 during freeway reconstruction between Milwaukee and the state line.
How to pay
The question of how to pay for more rail remains unanswered.
A Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission study estimated the cost of buying train cars and upgrading existing freight rail tracks at $237 million and projected operating costs at $14.7 million a year.
Congress has authorized $80 million for construction, and fares would bring in $3.8 million a year to help cover operating costs, the study says. Officials hope to get additional federal and state funds that would cover most of both the construction and operating costs.
But the 33-mile extension cannot move forward without a local funding source.
The newly created Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority is considering its options, including a local sales tax. Commission members could vote at its Tuesday meeting to ask the Legislature to authorize the new sales tax.
The three-county authority would be able to levy a 0.05% tax, or 5 cents on each $100 purchase, to cover the local share of building and operating the rail service. That would raise $8 million a year.
Many area business operators support the rail project, said Karl Ostby, president of Kenosha-based Southport Bank. A region tied together by commuter rail would allow southeastern Wisconsin companies to draw employees from a much larger talent pool, said Ostby, the transit authority's chairman.
The creation of rail stations also would stimulate development, said Richard Hansen, president of Racine-based Johnson Financial Group, which operates Johnson Bank.
"You look at every Metra stop, it turns into a great growth area," Hansen said.
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