WISCONSIN: Panel backs two rail projects in Wisconsin
MILWAUKEE - A congressional conference committee has recommended spending $5.5 million for two Wisconsin passenger rail projects, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) announced Tuesday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That spending is part of a $35.5 million package of Wisconsin airport highway, bus and train projects that Kohl and Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.) said they persuaded fellow House and Senate budget negotiators to support.
The $58 billion transportation appropriations bill includes $4 million to continue planning an extension of Chicago's Metra commuter rail service from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee. An $825,000 study is already under way on the line, which could provide 1.1 million rides a year at a cost of $152.4 million to build and $7.8 million a year to operate.
Also in the bill is 1.5 million for setting up high-speed Amtrak service from Milwaukee to Madison, including $500,000 to improve safety at railroad crossings along the route. The state is conducting a $2.5 million study on establishing 110-mph service with six round trips daily, a project expected to cost about $119 million.
However, the Milwaukee-to-Madison line is part of a nine-state, $4.1 billion plan to run fast, frequent trains across the Midwest. That project's fate depends on separate federal legislation to borrow $10 billion for rail projects nationwide.
The appropriations bill also includes $14 million to help transit systems buy new buses; $7.3 million for airport runway projects in Green Bay, Eau Claire and Janesville; $4.7 million to transport low-income residents to work; $3 million to finish the Chippewa Falls bypass on state Highway 29; and $1 million to upgrade freeway traffic technology.
Both the full House and the full Senate must vote on the bill. But the legislation can't be amended and is among bills that must be approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton to keep the government running.