(The following story by Matthew DeFour appeared on the Wisconsin State Journal website on May 6, 2010.)
MADISON, Wisc. — In an announcement that Madison officials hailed as a boon for Downtown, Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday that the “obvious, correct choice” for an Amtrak station is near Monona Terrace.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz pledged to expand by 400 spaces a planned parking ramp reconstruction in the next two years to accommodate what he said should be called “Gov. Jim Doyle/Monona Terrace Station.”
The governor, Cieslewicz said, “made absolutely the right decision, and in some ways a courageous decision, and one that is going to benefit the city of Madison for generations to come.”
Both leaders emphasized that a lot of work still needs to be done, including selecting the exact location of the station. Department of Transportation Executive Assistant Chris Klein confirmed the state is looking at three state-owned buildings along Wilson Street where the station would be housed and vertical access to a platform would need to be built.
The $810 million federal stimulus grant to develop intercity rail between Madison and Milwaukee has $24 million earmarked for station development. Part of that would be used for the Madison station, Doyle said, but “the station is not going to be a Taj Mahal.”
Cieslewicz said that if the city wants to make the station “a more significant entrance to the city, then obviously the city is going to have to think about stepping up and paying for that.”
City Council President Mark Clear said Madison also will have to consider making the station functional for other modes of transportation, including Metro bus service, intercity bus, taxis, bicycles and eventually commuter rail.
“If the feds are going to give us a platform and a Porta Potti, then we’re going to have to step up and make sure it’s truly functional for all the different modes of transportation we need,” Clear said.
‘A large number of criteria’
The announcement ended months of speculation by many, even those in leadership positions like Clear, on a closely guarded state secret. State officials said for the first time two weeks ago that four sites were being considered for a Madison station: Monona Terrace, the Kohl Center, the Dane County Regional Airport and a site at First Street and East Washington Avenue known as Yahara Station.
In reviewing the sites, Doyle said, the state Department of Transportation considered “a large number of criteria” including rail operations, ridership, access to other forms of transportation, economic development potential, parking, traffic impact, environmental issues, location, size and shape, and costs.
The state estimated Monona Terrace would attract 537,000 riders annually, or 60,000 more than at the airport, with an equivalent travel time.
Doyle said he heard from many people along the line, including in Milwaukee and Chicago, who said they would be more likely to take the train if it came Downtown. “I think this decision in the end, when you added it all up, became pretty clear,” he said.
In the state’s final analysis, the Kohl Center and Yahara Station were discarded because they weren’t considered in a final environmental assessment that received federal approval in 2004. Evaluating those sites would have pushed the start-up date beyond 2013, Klein said.
The analysis also found that rail infrastructure costs would be $13 million higher at the airport than at Monona Terrace.
Doyle said he originally signaled support for the airport because he thought there would be more parking there, but it turned out the parking is needed for long-term expansion of the airport.
Klein said the decision to go Downtown does not mean the state has lost confidence in receiving federal funding to extend the line to Minneapolis. Rather, the state may consider a second Madison station at the airport when it extends the line. The state was awarded $1 million by the Federal Railroad Administration to study that extension.
‘Economic development potential is unlimited’
Leaders emphasized the economic development potential of a Monona Terrace station. Imagine, said Ald. Mike Verveer, visitors getting off the train beneath a refurbished building at 1 W. Wilson St. and having a porter carrying their bags up to their hotel room, then walking a block to buy locally grown produce at a public market where the Government East parking ramp once stood.
“The economic development potential is unlimited,” Verveer said.
The redevelopment of the Government East parking ramp, which currently has 500 spaces, was already scheduled for 2011 and 2012 with 800 underground parking spaces at a cost of $24.5 million. Cieslewicz said the city could add another underground level and expand capacity to 1,200 spaces to accommodate the 400 to 600 spaces needed for the train station.
He also said he wants to build the city’s first bike parking facility there, modeled on those he saw on a recent trip to Europe.
Downtown advocate Ledell Zellers, who works in one of the buildings being considered for the station, welcomed a Downtown station but said there are several issues that need to be addressed, including noise, safety and the impact on traffic at the already congested nearby intersection of Wilson, Williamson and Blair streets and John Nolen Drive.
“There are some issues about noise, in terms of going through neighborhoods. That’s a serious question,” Zellers said. “There would have to be more quiet zones developed in order to make it livable around the train route.”