MADISON, Wis. — A wire service reported that more than three-fourths of Wisconsin residents said they were very likely or somewhat likely to consider traveling by train if they were planning a trip 75 miles to 300 miles from home, a poll released Tuesday showed.
But 57 percent said they still prefer to drive when making a trip that distance, according to the survey released by the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers.
The group is a statewide organization with 800 members who favor expanded passenger rail service in Wisconsin.
Just over half of those polled — 54.3 percent — said they strongly favor or somewhat favor Wisconsin using tax dollars to pay for portion of rail projects in order to attract federal money.
The state is considering upgrades to include high-speed intercity trains and regular-speed commuter trains, as part of an initiative to link Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, the Twin Cities, St. Louis, Detroit and other cities.
The survey sampled 600 Wisconsin residents, selecting individuals at random in proportion to the county’ s share of the state’ s population in the 2000 Census.
The respondents were surveyed by phone between Jan. 28 and Feb. 7 by Chamberlain Research Consultants of Madison. The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, was paid for by the Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers, HNTB Consulting Milwaukee and the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago.