As Milwaukee gets assistance for its own downtown streetcar, a Kenosha transit official sees that proposal as a boost to regional transit plans and not a threat to interest in Kenosha’s railways.
Part of the $410 billion federal spending bill signed last week by President Obama included a provision to divide $91.5 million in transit aid between the city and county of Milwaukee.
The $91.5 million in funding was initially approved in 1991, but was held up when Milwaukee city and county officials were unable to decide how to divide the money. The city’s 60 percent share is planned for a downtown streetcar line, while Milwaukee County’s funds destined for the county bus system.
The concept of a downtown streetcar is nothing new to Kenosha. The city restarted its downtown streetcar rail line in 2000, and an estimated 65,000 people rode on Kenosha’s rails last year.
http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/index.php (See ‘news’ section from 3-19 for the rest of the article, where the politicians are proclaiming their own forward-thinking; or you can see the entire article over in the ‘transit’ forum.
I wonder who did the “estimate” on the ridership of the Kenosha streetcar. Surely it wasn’t anyone that actually ever looked at the empty streetcars endlessly circling the downtown area, bereft of passengers, the lonely motorman all alone on the coach.
The whole thing resembles a giant model railroad; maybe they should paint some silhouettes in the passenger windows like they used to have on the old model railroad passenger cars.
Well, there it is. Milwaukee is going to use the “stimulus” money to build three miles of streetcar line that goes around in a circle. $54,900,000 for three miles of track that go nowhere. That is $18,300,000 per mile. But I would assume it includes the streetcars. How many will they need? Three or four?
Kenosha is a nice small city on the Lake Michigan shore. Good outdoor waterfront dining is available in season. Out of season, you’ll want to be inside.
Its streetcars are interesting. If you’re in the area they’re worth a look. It’s as if some model railroader with an interest in transit received a multi-million dollar windfall from the government. Correct me if I’m wrong Zardoz, but these are ex-Toronto PCCs that run along the lakeshore part of the way. They “serve” the Metra station which has trains to Chicago. You probably would enjoy a ride on a PCC.
I didn’t know the Kenosha streetcar system existed until one day at work all systems crashed. My boss said “just leave”. With nothing else to do I decided to drive up to Kenosha and try my luck at the Greyhound track. When I got there the track wasn’t open yet so I drove into town to take a look see. Down by the lake I was astonished to see a PCC (occupied only by the motorman). I followed the streetcar tracks and marveled at the overhead wire system.
It seems to be a total and complete waste of taxpayer money. But it’s there. If you’ve never experienced the streetcar/PCC part of the rail hobby, or if you want to experience it again, Kenosha would be a good place to do so.
If Kenosha is going to be the model I would assume it would use PCC. Have you ridden the system in Kenosha? I have ridden it, it is a really nice system. A sampling of diffent cars to from Toronto to Pitsburg. Good system to model after! Very nice and well kept up. Also a bitt off topic here butt if you ever go to Kenosha you HAVE to try Franks Dinner! Ohh soo good![dinner]