A standing-room-only crowd showed up to a public meeting in Madison Tuesday evening to hear, "the train is coming." The first question was by high-speed and commuter train opponent, Bill Richardson, who asked, is this a done deal? He received an affirmative response from State of Wisconsin DOT representatives.
High-speed and commuter rail will cross many roads as they
move across the Madison Metropolitan Area. These "at grade"
crossing are expected to cause traffic delays and congestion.
(credit: Volpe Center Photo)
This preliminary public meeting, held in the Atrium Room of Olbrich Botanical Gardens, was organized by Alderperson Marsha Rummel. About 150 citizens attended. Rummel warned the public at the outset that the meeting was not part of the official public process and was intended to be a listening session. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz followed with brief remarks and his vision that the intercity high-speed rail linking Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and eventually the Twin Cities would be an economic boon to Madison by bringing people together in the new economy.
The Wisconsin DOT representatives followed with a brief history of the project that dates back to 1996. Wiconsin DOT (WDOT) Operations Director Paul Trombino and Federal DOT high-speed passenger rail program director John Oimoen made a brief presentation and answered questions. They reminded the audience that the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail project is part of the bigger picture of connecting Madison to the Twin Cities to complete an intricate regional high-speed rail network in the Midwest. They said the environmental assessment (EA) and environment impact statement (EIS) will be done next year on the Madison-to-Minneapolis Corridor.
High-speed rail service is expected to begin in 2013 with six daily round trip trains that travel at 79 mph, less than what most consider high speed. Safety equipment will be available and upgraded by 2016 to allow up to 10 round trip trains daily at speeds of up to 110 mph.
The DOT officials reinforced Rummel's warning that the meeting was only an informational meeting and listening session. They reviewed the multiple opportunities for public input on issues associated with the rail corridor and the Monona Terrace rail station. They explained that in future public hearings the DOT will be soliciting public input on the local rail corridor with respect to landscaping, signage, signals, fencing, crossing and other subjects.
Monona Terrace Convention Center, designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright. Future sight of the Gov. Jim Doyle Train Station.
(credit: J. Campana)
Nevertheless, the public criticized the lack of public input on the selection of Monona Terrace for the train station instead of the airport or other alternatives. Later, during the public Q&A, several members of the public criticized the government officials and representatives for not giving specific answers to questions, and at one point tempers flared.
One of the most vocal was Steve Randolph, known and respected for his quiet zone advocacy around the residential Main Street area freight train corridor, which will be converted to the high-speed rail line. Randolph's advocacy resulted in the Wisconsin and Southern whistle ban throughout Madison early last decade.
Randolph requested a Yes or No answer from the State DOT representatives regarding whether or not quiet zones are in jeopardy. He was given a No answer supplemented by "But . . ." by the DOT. The "But response" incited Randolph to continue to criticize the officials for their lack of definitive answers. Mayor Cieslewicz, who worked with Randolph on effecting quiet zones, approached Randolph and tried to help calm the discussion, however, Randolph continued the diatribe over the lack of answers.
One member of the audience standing in the back of the room had been taunting citizen speakers during the second hour of the meeting by disruptively shouting at the top of his lungs, "Speak into the microphone." Disturbed over Randolph's rant, he shouted at Randolph, "Sit down and shut up and give other people a chance." Randolph stormed from the podium to the heckler at back of the room and face-in-face shouted , if you don't like it, you can leave, and shove it. For a moment it appeared there was going to be an altercation, however, Randolph left the room. Afterwards, at least one speaker acknowledged that Randolph affected the peacefulness of their neighborhood through his quiet zone advocacy over the last decade.
The overwhelming majority of the public spoke of concerns over bringing high-speed rail downtown, and few spoke in support of the high-speed rail project and the choice of Monona Terrace as the train station. There was loud applause from the audience especially after each citizen speaker posed his or her objections to the government panel.
The citizen speakers were concerned about many issues including additional congestion and more traffic being directed into the downtown area; traffic congestion and safety at the "at grade" street and pedestrian crossings; noise and air pollution from the diesel trains; quality of life issues resulting from train and signal bell noise; vibrations due to trains; safety fences that will divide homes and neighborhoods and community gardens; potential increases in crime resulting from fencing; and affects on residential property values.
Lucy Mathiak, a member of the Madison Metropolitan School District's (MMSD) Board of Education expressed concerns over student transportation and safety. She said children are encouraged to walk to neighborhood schools, and said that the fencing will close pedestrian pathways and certain city streets may be closed to accommodate the trains. These closings and the many rail crossings threaten the ability of students to walk safely to schools; and consequently the school district may require additional busing of children. The MMSD is already faced with significant annual deficits.
One speaker was concerned why the Monona Terrace train station proposal was not brought before the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MTO). He reminded the state officials that the MTO has the power to withhold funding on the project just as the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) does. He assured the public that the MTO was going to have a hearing on the situation.
Credit: U.S. DOT Federal Railroad Administration
Ron Wolfe of ProRail, a pro intercity passenger rail advocacy group, also criticized the decision to put the train station at Monona Terrace without a public hearing. Wolfe pointed out that an assessment performed several years ago indicated that 60% of intercity rail passengers will come from outside of the City of Madison. He said that because of demographic changes in the region over the last several years he expects that a current study would show that significantly more than 60% of the passengers would come from outside of Madison. Wolfe and others favor the airport station location as a more convenient and accessible location for the majority of the projected passengers.
Many were concerned about the traffic and congestion caused by bringing high-speed rail downtown. Additional traffic is going to result from passengers from all over the region coming into the downtown. Another speaker said additional buses will be necessary to shuttle passengers between hotels, the airport and convention sites and the downtown station, thus adding to traffic.
Several speakers alluded to the traffic congestion that will occur because the train must cross about 25 motor vehicle roadways by coming into the downtown. The number of crossings is more than the number of roadway crossings on the high-speed train line between Baltimore, MD and the downtown Washington DC.
With 10 round trips a day, that quickly adds up to 500 crossings per day, a cause for concern among motorists. The number of high-speed rail crossings dwarfs the number of pedestrian, bikeway and street crossing that would be made by commuter rail. Commuter rail is projected to add an additional 9,000 crossing daily.
Concerned citizens should extend Richardson's opening question at the meeting to, "With high-speed rail infrastructure being laid all the way to Monona Terrace, is commuter rail a done deal too?"
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Comments
Can the promotors and state officials DID not know about crossing problems?
It is very obvious problems. In Japan, all high speed train systems run on viaducts to prevent these problems mentioned in the article as well as keep safety operation. That why Japanese high speed train system has established non-accident of near ly 50 years since it started in 1964 and still continues its record extending.
Yes, building viaducts are very expensive but considering many people's lives, the expenses should be justified.
High speed trains are absolutely needed in 10 or so year later as oil price will go up again as predicted.
I notice that the author did not report that there were also speakers in support of the project, and at least one pointed out that car traffic causes far greater delays than any of these trains will cause. That speaker also incited the crowd to clap - in favor of the project, and then noted that it appeared to be about a 50-50 split in the room.
We need to have alternatives to the single occupancy car trip, and a train between Madison and Milwaukee makes all the sense in the world. Or would you rather continue to pay through the nose to widen I-94 every couple of years? Talk about expensive!
Car-lite, I attended the meeting, and most citizens spoke in opposition -- about three spoke in favor, and even some of those sided on some issues with the opposition. In fairness to the author and the meeting, the article accurately reports,"The overwhelming majority of the public spoke of concerns over bringing high-speed rail downtown, and few spoke in support of the high-speed rail project and the choice of Monona Terrace as the train station. There was loud applause from the audience especially after each citizen speaker posed his or her objections to the government panel." There was citizen applause after every citizen speaker. One supporter got loud applause, speaking at the end of the meeting when 1/3 to 1/2 at most of crowd remained--probably dominated by hard core supporters. Many of concered citizens likely got frustrated and left the meeting early with a feeling of hopelessness over the project.
I love how people discuss these issues,and can't quite move away from discussing apples/and oranges in the same sentence.
I am a native Madisonian and I agree with the high speed rail.What I totally disagree with is the bringing it to a downtown location!
As dicussed yes cars are an issue already,but with the train going into downtown areas it will only make it worse.
This train should move through our town as unobtrusively and quietly as possible!
When intercity rail is extended to Minneapolis its trains will stop at the airport, not downtown. The John Nolen Drive station and the upgraded track to Yahara will be re-purposed for commuter rail, which will connect to intercity rail at the airport. It's all good :_>
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