It's really inspiring to read this story John. We in Wisconsin have several decommissioned stations that we'd love to have reconnected on passenger rail routes that we are waiting to go into Step 2 of the Corridor Identification Program (CID) planning. Wisconsin was awarded five CID projects in the first round of the IIJA funding of that FRA program. Our Transportation Department (WisDOT) combined those into four projects but we are still waiting. Because the two actual routes involved - Milwaukee to Green Bay and Milwaukee to Madison (and the added portion to Eau Claire) are "first in the pipeline" the State's share of planning is 10% not 20% in Step 2.... but still we wait for WisDOT and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to give us the "go ahead".
Who knew an article about construction, upgrades, and high-level platforms in a state I haven't lived in for over 60 years could be so interesting?! Excellent and eminently readable writing...
PennDOT deserves a lot of credit for the improvements that they've made, and its good that they publicize the effort. The two-page Illinois DOT Public Transportation web presence is a vivid contrast, providing no specific information.
Excellent story, John! Seemingly small victories do add up.👍
It's really inspiring to read this story John. We in Wisconsin have several decommissioned stations that we'd love to have reconnected on passenger rail routes that we are waiting to go into Step 2 of the Corridor Identification Program (CID) planning. Wisconsin was awarded five CID projects in the first round of the IIJA funding of that FRA program. Our Transportation Department (WisDOT) combined those into four projects but we are still waiting. Because the two actual routes involved - Milwaukee to Green Bay and Milwaukee to Madison (and the added portion to Eau Claire) are "first in the pipeline" the State's share of planning is 10% not 20% in Step 2.... but still we wait for WisDOT and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to give us the "go ahead".
Who knew an article about construction, upgrades, and high-level platforms in a state I haven't lived in for over 60 years could be so interesting?! Excellent and eminently readable writing...
PennDOT deserves a lot of credit for the improvements that they've made, and its good that they publicize the effort. The two-page Illinois DOT Public Transportation web presence is a vivid contrast, providing no specific information.
Great insights. Thanks