It Actually Makes a Difference Where a Train Station Is Built

Congratulations, it looks like your city is going to be getting high-speed rail service.

Just one thing: Because of various political and economic considerations, the station is going to be located out at the airport -- far from any walkable destination and a $12 cab ride from downtown.

That's the scenario that's currently facing Madison, Wisconsin -- unless a more sensible plan prevails. A high-speed rail connection between Madison and Milwaukee is in the stimulus pipeline, but many of its benefits could be compromised if the Wisconsin Department of Transportation plows ahead with the airport station plan. Two members of the Streetsblog Network have written about the issue in recent days. First, Logan Nash at Congress for the New Urbanism:

The Yahara location: Will WisDOT do the right thing?

Thankfully, it seems clear that livability and sustainable transportation planning
are part of Obama and DOT head Ray LaHood’s plan for American transport. So why is Wisconsin using the excuse of federal funding to forge ahead with its shortsighted plan to locate Madison’s HSR station at the airport?

This is the question being asked by planner Barry Gore, who has researched and is pushing for an alternative site on unused land at the intersection of First St. and E. Washington Ave. Yahara Station, as it is being called, would bring passengers into an urban area much closer to the capitol without changing the path of the train. It would be a compromise between the airport site and an even closer downtown alternative that WisDOT rejected because it would require trains to back up in order to continue on to the Twin Cities. But the city and the state are fretting over any changes to the current plan for fear of jeopardizing the current “shovel-ready” nature of this Midwest HSR segment.

Urban Milwaukee has more details on the advantages of the Gore plan, and why placement of the Madison station is important to Milwaukee as well:

Why does this matter to Milwaukee?  The station’s location significantly affects the mobility of travelers from Milwaukee and Chicago upon arrival in Madison.  A more central location affords flexibility for spouses to work in different cities, greatly increasing the number of available jobs.  It allows students to more reliably get from one city to the other. A downtown-to-downtown connection also greatly increases the ability for businesses to collaborate and grow in both cities.

CNU's Nash adds:

More from around the network: Tom Vanderbilt at How We Drive writes about Texas's misbegotten ban on cell-phone use in school zones. Walk Bike Berks County writes about the forensics of crash investigations where a bicycle is involved. And Tempe Bicycle Action Group has the story of a hit-and-run driver in Phoenix who killed a cyclist and then tried to turn his car in as part of the Cash for Clunkers program. Apparently, that move caught the eye of someone who had heard the vehicle description on a news report -- and then called in an anonymous tip that got him arrested.