SkyscraperPage Forum - MILWAUKEE | Transit Developments

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)

- Transportation (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=25)

- - MILWAUKEE | Transit Developments (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=192796)

Quote:

Originally Posted by maru2501 (Post 7391761)

is there a map for what has actually been approved to date? is it one line?

brewers park would be great but I assume it's too far from the CBD

initial route:

http://www.themilwaukeestreetcar.com...front-Line.jpg

preliminary car design:

http://www.themilwaukeestreetcar.com...vrenderpic.jpg

more info and larger images, including potential future routes, can be found here:

http://www.themilwaukeestreetcar.com

Major bus rapid transit, streetcar station on Wisconsin Avenue

Quote:

A major station would be at Fourth Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. It would hug the northern end of a city-owned parking lot opposite the Wisconsin Center, where stakeholders have endeavored to generate more street life.

That station would link the BRT line with a potential new line of the downtown streetcar system. Like the streetcar, the permanence of a BRT system would encourage new development around stations, Schneider said.

I know this article covers BRT and not the streetcar but I figured it is relevant to this thread as the two systems, BRT and Streetcar, are expected to compliment each other through a major downtown hub, a few blocks north of the Intermodal Station...

Milwaukee County Considering Bus Rapid Transit

Quote:

“You might take the bus to BRT to go to work. Then you want to go out to lunch so you jump on a Bublr Bike. The next day, you take BRT into work, and you jump on the streetcar to go to a meeting, to visit a friend,” Conway says.

Milwaukee's next streetcar extension leads to new arena

Quote:

The next extension of the Milwaukee streetcar will run along North Fourth Street, linking a major new development on West Wisconsin Avenue, the downtown convention center and the new arena.

With utility relocation work wrapping up, it's time to begin actual construction of Milwaukee's streetcar line! A few weeks ago, several stacks of rails were delivered to strategically located sites throughout Downtown. For the past week or so, crews have been welding these rails together into longer sections. This week, crews will begin digging the trenches in the street for the track foundations.

Some articles, photo galleries, and video from last week:

Milwaukee streetcar rail welding underway; route work to begin next week

Streetcar Rails Being Welded

• Video Link

Time for some updates...

September 2017: City of Milwaukee awarded an operations/maintenance contract to Transdev Services for 5 years, with an option to extend another 5 years. The contract is valued at about $3.6 million per year, with funding to come from Federal grants, corporate sponsorships, advertising revenue, farebox returns, and City parking revenue.

October 2017: A major corporate sponsor and branding scheme is revealed. The Forest County Potawatomi Community, which has an ever-expanding casino and hotel in the city, will contribute $10 million over a 12 year period toward operations (including free fares for all riders during the first year). As such, the streetcar service will be officially branded "The Hop, presented by Potawatomi Hotel & Casino," or a much less-clunkier "The Hop" (as in "hop on, hop off," and also hops being a brewing ingredient in a city famously known for its brewing history).

January 2018: About 90% of work on the initial route is competed (utilities relocated, tracks laid, station/pole foundations installed, Operations and Maintenance Facility underway). Work continues through winter on some segments with pole installation and stringing wire for overhead contact system, which will power the streetcars, as well as charge the on-board batteries for running on off-wire segments.

Today: After a 60 year absence, a streetcar returns to the streets of Milwaukee! The first of five "Liberty Modern Streetcars" arrived from Brookville Equipment Corporation of Pennsylvania. The vehicle rolled off a flatbed trailer onto tracks in W. St. Paul Avenue, then down the street and around the corner into the Operations and Maintenance Facility on N. 4th Street, all via battery power (only for the moment, as this section of the route will normally use overhead wires for power).

Final assembly will occur inside the OMF during the next few weeks (pantograph installation, putting on skirting, etc.). The remaining four vehicles will be delivered about one-per-month. Vehicle testing will begin in April, first along a short stretch of St Paul Avenue and 4th Street, then later in June along the full initial route through the Third Ward, Downtown, and Lower East Side neighborhoods. An official opening date has not been announced yet, though sometime in October/November 2018 is expected.

Anyway, links...

Article and slideshow from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: First new Milwaukee streetcar vehicle rolls into downtown

The BizTimes: First streetcar arrives in Milwaukee - ‘The Hop’ will now undergo testing

The Milwaukee Business Journal: Streetcar vehicle arrives in Milwaukee: Slideshow

And an article and pair of videos from Urban Milwaukee: City Presents First Streetcar - Streetcar arrives and runs on city streets for the first time in 60 years

• Video Link

Awesome update!

So the initial route is only 2.5 miles long?

Are there going to be any extensions?

Official nomenclature for the streetcar system (color codes? letters, numbers? names? for the lines) have not been released yet, so everyone has been going by the info on the maps released so far.

The Initial Route/Phase One route (the blue line) is 2.5 miles from end to end. This line is to open October/November 2018.

The remaining segment of the Lakefront Line/Phase Two route (the green line) just recently began construction. It is supposed to open in 2019.

https://s25.postimg.org/cdo211pcf/Streetcar_Map1.jpg

The City is actively planning for more extensions, although no construction funding has been secured for them yet. One "near-term" extension [probably multi-year/multi-phase] would run northward from the Intermodal Station, through the new Arena District, up to Bronzeville via 4th Street and MLK Drive. Another "near-term" extension would run southward, linking the Third Ward with the Walker's Point/Harbor District neighborhoods. The "long-term" idea is to expand further and further out into the city in all directions.

https://s25.postimg.org/gmss37kvz/Streetcar_Map2.jpg

Just to show how bright I am, for like 5 seconds I was like "why is there some Greek word on the destination board on the front of the streetcar?" :haha:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 8134383)

Just to show how bright I am, for like 5 seconds I was like "why is there some Greek word on the destination board on the front of the streetcar?" :haha:

pretty sure Thehopmke is the Greek God of Light Rail.

Just throwing this out there but it would be nice if a restored former Milwaukee trolley could be acquired to operate on special occasions:

https://onmilwaukee.com/images/artic...gia_story1.jpg
_

...as well as since Milwaukee has so much German heritage, a retired Duewag tram:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/...8431d01f86.jpg
_

i know this thread is about the milwaukee streetcar, but i couldn't find any other milwaukee transportation thread to post this in, so here it is.

it looks like the decades old plan to start up kenosha-racine-milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail service is once again being revived.

we'll see if anything comes of it this time.

Quote:

Long-stalled Kenosha-Milwaukee commuter rail proposal gets new, if limited, state support
By | August 23, 2022

Wisconsin DOT provides federal sponsorship for private company’s plan

MILWAUKEE — The state of Wisconsin has filed a brief document with the Federal Transit Administration in support of a private corporation’s plan to provide commuter rail service between Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wis. — a long-discussed but moribund project dating to 1998.

The two-page “Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail Project Development Profile” was filed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Wisconsin Transit & Realty Group. It proposes a 33-mile operation from the Kenosha station served by Metra’s Union Pacific-North line to the downtown Milwaukee Intermodal Station, with seven intermediate stops.

The state DOT said in a statement to WUWM-FM that it was serving as the public sponsor required by FTA rules for the proposal from the Wisconsin Transit & Realty Group, “a private corporation that will own and operate the commuter service if the FTA agrees to the plan. … There are no state funds associated with the project, as all costs will be paid by WTRG.” The application, the DOT said, was a request to enter the project development phase of the FTA’s Capital Investment Grant Program, during which WisDOT will lead an environmental study of the proposal.

The proposed route would use an existing Union Pacific freight line, with infrastructure upgrades including improvements to allow 79-mph operation, up to three new 10,000-foot sidings, implementation of positive train control, and other improvements. The proposal also calls for use of hydrogen-powered trainsets, and initially would operate only during peak periods on weekdays. The estimated capital cost is $460 million.

https://www.trains.com/wp-content/up...ap-768x757.jpg

source: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...state-support/

I was excited until I saw "hydrogen-powered trainsets". Now I'm skeptical if this is a real proposal

Some news is good news.

Good to see state funding cut to the bus service in recent years in favour of rail service. Transit in Milwaukee has been lagging behind for decades, it is time to be a big city and catch up to the rest of America.

They should really consider going west to Oconomowoc as well IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34 (Post 9711396)

I was excited until I saw "hydrogen-powered trainsets". Now I'm skeptical if this is a real proposal

Yeah, that raised my eyebrow too.

However the world's very first hydrogen powered passenger rail line just opened yesterday in Germany, so the tech now at least exists in the real world.

also, i edited the thread title to make it more inclusive to all Milwaukee transit news & discussion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV (Post 9711475)

They should really consider going west to Oconomowoc as well IMO.

yeah, a commuter rail through-route from kenosha up to milwaukee and then out west to oconomowoc makes a lot of sense.

some of the towns along that western ROW still have their old station houses from the olden days.

oconomowoc: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1093...7i16384!8i8192

hartland: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1004...7i16384!8i8192

pewaukee: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0852...7i16384!8i8192

brookfield: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0716...7i16384!8i8192

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan (Post 9711708)

Most of those cities probably won't do it. I'm sure you can guess why......:uhh: For reference, I have family in all of the above cities and I used to live in Waukesha and the Milwaukee area. They are EXTREMELY resistant to anything like this because of the "element" it might bring out to their lily white suburbs.