On his city blog late Wednesday night, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz gushed: "WE WIN!"
He was referring to news that Wisconsin was awarded $810 million to build a high-speed rail line from Milwaukee to Madison, with the possibility of extending it to Minneapolis.
The announcement didn't surprise County Board Chairman Scott McDonell, a rail advocate. "I got a little nervous when the deadlines kept getting pushed back," he says, but Gov. Jim Doyle's office had been assuring local officials "we were pretty high on the list."
It'll be a few years -- possibly as many as six -- before anyone will be able to take a train to Milwaukee. But work on the project could start soon.
Locally, officials must determine where the station will be. Original plans called for a station at the airport, but others have lobbied to put it on the isthmus at Asked whether he thought $810 million was exceptionally high for an 80-mile rail line, McDonell says, "If you think gas and oil is going to go down in price, you could argue against it. But we need alternatives that are efficient. Freight benefits from the upgrade in the lines. This is big business."
