Great Waters Group is a Sierra Club member group of the John Muir Chapter (WI). We serve club members in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, & Waukesha counties.  Sierra Club groups are run by their members who volunteer to promote environmental sustainability by taking action on local issues and educating others to understand the issues and opportunities available to make informed decisions that will better protect our shared environment.  Our group coordinates many different activities and outings throughout the year so our members can enjoy and appreciate the wonders of the outdoors and the experiences of others.

Comments to Wisconsin Department of Transportation on I-94 Expansion

Wisconsin Department of Transportation - Comments
I-94 North South Corridor Project

From: Cheri Briscoe, Chairperson
Great Waters Group – Sierra Club
2016 E. Windsor Pl
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Representing: Great Waters Group – Sierra Club
Phone: 414-390-0159
Email: cherib@wi.rr.com

The position of the Great Waters Group with approximately 3500 members in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee County, is to support upgrading of the I-94 North South Corridor with its existing 6 lane configuration and with necessary changes to interchanges to improve safety elements. The plan should include some kind of rapid transit that will give people an efficient reason to leave their cars at home.
This comment is a supplement to previous comments made by Bill Moore, Transportation and Development Chair of the Great Waters Group.

This expensive proposal to widen the I-94 corridor to 8 lanes will only last approximately 10 years before it becomes inefficient again, with its commensurate air and noise pollution, and waste of drivers productive time. The $200,000,000 difference between the 6 lane option and the 8 lane option would go a long way toward building a transit system that would be highly expandable without the tremendous infrastructure and environmental costs of additional paved highways in the future. And, folks could do computer work and read and relax on the train.

In discussions with various representatives of the WisDOT on December 12, I learned the WisDOT gets its direction from the Legislature, and until they are directed legislatively (thru the budget) to put more money into transit, their "hands are tied" with respect to transit planning. They also advised me to send a copy of my comments to my legislators. They noted that states that have successful transit programs that include rail are generally funded by a separate funding program such as a sales tax, and also have Regional Transit Authorities. What kind of leadership or education is our WisDOT providing to encourage this process? It would seem that our WisDOT Secretary, Frank Busalacchi, who works for Governor Doyle would want this to happen, but where is the leadership?

I also learned that the data WisDOT is working with came from SEWRPC, and they said that KRM would only take 4,000 Vehicles per day (vpd) off the freeway which would still indicate a need for 8 lanes.

In the I-94 North-South corridor study-Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), section 1.3, I noted that the difference in Level of Service for 2035 shows the following: Levels of Service at 4 locations between Kenosha County line and the I-43, Greenfield interchange:
6 lanes-vpd     8 lanes vpd     Difference vpd
127,000             130,000                  3,000
110,000             114,000                  4,000
121,000             126,000                  5,000
171,000             191,000                 20,000

From the above information you can see that not only will the additional lanes not accommodate that much extra traffic, but the difference can easily be handled by just one mass transit line, KRM. It appears that the Greenfield,I-43 interchange area might need some tweaking, but the whole 35 miles does not need 8 lanes. This easily justifies spending our money on KRM verses 2 more expensive lanes of traffic for the whole corridor. One should also note that maintenance and operations on freeways, which includes snowplowing, traffic patrols, signage management, water runoff, etc. must be included as operations costs to the public as well. Also, Amtrak and a proposed rapid rail similar to services in Europe and Japan could and would take even more vehicles off the I-94 North-South corridor.

My impression from discussions of analysis of the impact of transit & rail in other cities like Seattle and St. Louis were not considered. It really is time for Wisconsin to move into the future with transit like other forward thinking growing areas of our nation.

Below are some comments I sent to SEWRPC after reading their “Year 2035 Regional Land Use and Transportation System Plans for Southeastern Wisconsin”. (Attached is a copy of the comments I sent on May 1, 2006.)

“The continued problem with your (SEWRPC) transit suggestions is they lack courage. They are a reflection of the unimaginative mission statement which calls for citizens to “support implementation of the regional land use plan, while minimizing the capital and annual operating costs of the transportation system.” While these proposals may minimize capital and annual operating costs of the transportation system they impose other costs on society such noise and pollution. It is time for elected officials including those on SEWRPC to envision spending our public money on truly rapid transit so that Milwaukee can become a shining leader of Midwestern transit systems. We must create clean high speed transit corridors so that people can get to destinations faster than ever without the pollution caused by congested automobile and bus travel on shared roads and noisy air polluting freeways. Instead of defining buses on freeways as “rapid transit” and spending money on programs that we know will not attract new ridership, it is time to invest in true rapid transit such as light rail and rapid rail with their own high speed corridors and preferred signal systems. Your recommendations for transit preference signaling in the Travel Demand Elements on p. 9 & 10 are good. A better proposal would be to escalate development of rapid transit service in the 2035 proposal and go for the gold. If it is cleaner and faster than cars, people will use it. St. Louis has an exemplary light rail system that continues to expand because people want it. You are, in essence, recommending about 25 years until anything significant happens to transit.”

SEWRPC’s studies are somewhat incomplete, because they have failed to recognize the real economic potential of including rapid transit in this rapidly growing economic corridor of the Midwest. Not only would 4,000 vehicles be taken off the freeway, but there would be connections which will have a multiplier effect on other roads in urban areas through connectivity. The SEWRPC mission statement lacks vision because it fails to mention anything about environmental and economic costs and thus probably narrowed this study.

Regarding wetlands losses, WisDOT staff said the primary wetlands that will be disrupted are the existing corridors along the freeway, which were created when the highway drainage system was built 40 years ago, and will be actually recreated when they add the extra lanes. They will still be required to mitigate at 1.5 x the wetlands they destroy.

Wetlands are very important in this area where freshwater tables outside of the watershed are dropping precipitously. We can be thankful that the state has the 1.5x wetlands mitigation requirement. One concern is that mitigated wetlands typically do not support the same ecology as those destroyed; lower quality wetlands are the result.

Regarding safety, an efficient rapid transit system is probably the safest investment in terms of saving lives and maiming of our fellow human beings. The accident rate on rail transit is remarkably good in terms of person/mile injuries.

Regarding noise pollution, here are no indications of setbacks for property lines along the freeway, however, a homeowner would normally be required to have a 100 ft setback, if someone were to build behind the residents in this corridor. The amount of increased noise and air pollution is definitely not a plus on the safety side of the cost equation.

We appreciate this opportunity to comment and will take your advice and send our comments to Governor Doyle and the Legislature as well. It is time for a Regional Transit Authority and designated funding for efficient Rail Transit in this corridor.
It should be incorporated in the I-94 corridor 2035 plan.

Finally, I repeat, the Great Waters Group-Sierra Club supports only the 6-lane rebuild recommendation. We can do a better job for our Wisconsin/Illinois travelers and commuters.

Sincerely,
Cheri Briscoe

Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

GREAT WATERS GROUP
John Muir Chapter

Re: Transportation Planning 2035

May 1, 2006

To the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission,

We commend you for the thorough job you have done on researching existing data to implement plans for Regional Land Use and Transportation System Plans for Southeastern Wisconsin. We appreciate this most recent opportunity for comments.

We noted little or no change in the recommendations that were proposed in your August 2005 newsletter #3.

(Newsletter #4 can be found at the following website: www.sewrpc.org/regionalplans/pdfs/newsletter_04_web_regional_plans.pdf)

Your recommendations to double the vehicle-miles of transit service in the next 20 years, representing only a 2.5% annual increase, seems insufficient considering the 50% increase in gas prices in the last year. The transit services proposals do not offer an attractive trade off for people who are giving up the spontaneity of personal automobile services for trips that take twice as long by bus. Your recommendations in Newsletter #4, Mar. 2006 show no change in this pattern. If transit continues to move on the same congested lanes crossing congested intersections with single driver vehicles, there is no incentive for automobile use reduction. Hence, Southeastern Wisconsin will continue the pattern of expanded highways with their additional environmental degradation.

While your data modeling suggests that VOC’s and NOxx’s will decrease under your Preliminary Recommended Plan, p. 19 which is good, we note that the CO2 emissions will increase by 2%. The proposed destruction of 104 acres of wetlands is significant in an urban area that is struggling with stormwater overflows and water shortages. Wetlands are more than just another pretty scene. Also, the proposed removal of nearly 200 acres of environmental corridors to accommodate more traffic lanes is yet another taking of our natural world and the survival options of species which diminishes a little more each year.

The continued problem with your transit suggestions is they lack courage. They are a reflection of the unimaginative mission statement which calls for citizens to "support implementation of the regional land use plan, while minimizing the capital and annual operating costs of the transportation system." While these proposals minimize capital and annual operating costs of the transportation system they impose other costs on society such noise and pollution. It is time for elected officials including those on the SEWRPC to envision spending our public money on truly rapid transit so that Milwaukee can become a shining leader of Midwestern transit systems. We must create clean, high speed transit corridors so that people can get to destinations faster than ever without the pollution caused by congested automobile and bus travel on shared roads and noisy freeways. Instead of defining buses on freeways as "rapid transit" and spending money on programs that we know will not attract new ridership, it is time to invest in true rapid transit such as light rail or rapid rail with their own high speed corridors and preferred signal systems. Your recommendations for transit preference signaling in the Travel Demand Elements on p. 9 & 10 are good. A better proposal would be to escalate development of rapid transit service in the 2035 proposal and go for the gold. If it is cleaner and faster than cars, people will use it. St. Louis has an exemplary light rail system that continues to expand because people want it. You are, in essence, recommending about 25 years until anything significant happens to transit.

Any new highway lanes should be for guided buses or light rail only. We should also be looking at subways. Many cities in Europe now have thriving subways despite lower than expected population densities, some significantly smaller than metropolitan Milwaukee. Even formerly Soviet bloc countries with lower standards of living include extensive subway systems in cities such as Prague and Budapest. Even Turin, Italy (pop. 856,000) has a subway! What it takes is political will initiated by an entity such as SEWRPC.

With SEWRPC’s lack of recommendations regarding I-94 widening between the Marquette and Zoo Interchanges, you have fallen back on the "it’s out of my hands" excuse because the Wis. Department of Transportation has decided, despite local Milwaukee area recommendations, to go ahead with studies for additional automobile traffic lanes. The costs of these studies should, instead, be going towards rapid transit corridors Perhaps a bolder proposal for rapid transit on the part of SEWRPC might have changed this direction. Or, maybe it is just another indication that SEWRPC representation does not reflect the population significance and economic value of Milwaukee County. Healthy robust urban centers truly need the support of good transit options.

We continue to support your recommendation for a Regional Transit Authority. We have high hopes for the newly formed Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority which will help guide the development and operation of the KRM Commuter Rail. Your support of a dedicated local funding source other than the property tax for funding regional transit systems has merit. While it may be perceived as somewhat regressive, it supports the politically popular concept of payment for services, similar to the gas tax which funds highways but not enough transit.

The repeat of Preliminary Proposals For Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities on p. 8, newsletter 3, which "envision that as the surface arterial street system of 3,300 miles in the region is resurfaced and reconstructed segment-by-segment, the provision of accommodations for bicycle travel would be considered and implemented, if feasible, through bicycle lanes, widened outside travel lanes, widened shoulders, or separate bicycle paths" is still excellent. We urge SEWRPC to adopt that proposal. Bicycle travel should be implemented wherever possible. (As a biker who is riding more than ever, I appreciate the well marked bike lanes along Prospect Ave., Farwell Ave, North Ave., Center St. and others.) The number of bicyclists who are using these bikeways as well as off-road bikeways is increasing.

We suggest that your proposal include recommendations that all transit vehicles be required to accommodate bicycles on them to enable multimodal transportation alternatives to cars.

We support your "proposal for SEWRPC to prepare an assessment of the priority of need for bicycle accommodation on each segment of the surface arterial street and highway system." Since the last study was completed in 1995, it is time for another one, soon. We hope that the proposed study would also include further study of natural resource and utility corridors for bicycle and pedestrian trails. It’s a real opportunity to maximize all of our urban and suburban spaces and to keep the public in touch with the natural beauty and urban wild spaces of our neighborhoods. This is quality of life and economic development money that is well spent. Elected officials must take heed of this.

In your Surface and Arterial Street and Highway Traffic Management proposals, we support your recommended improvements for intersection safety. Those improvements will also enhance the safety (and perceived safety) of pedestrians and bicyclists.

We commend you for your Travel Demand Management Element. There are lots of good proposals in there. Your suggestion for a single information website for the various transit systems is good. We must take advantage of new information management opportunities when we can.

We are confused by your Personal Vehicle Pricing section p. 11, and question its political viability.

Your continued proposal from last year, that "local governments consider implementation of curb-lane parking restrictions during peak traffic periods in the peak traffic directions, rather than widening with additional lanes or construction of new arterial streets" is good. This will also help with stormwater control by creating less impervious surfaces.

Your Major Activity Center Parking Management and Guidance suggestions are still good. We need to increase awareness of and use of shuttle buses wherever possible.

Encouraging ride share programs is also commendable. Currently there are no signs along I-94 heading west which indicate that there is a Park and Ride lot on Barker Rd. This is an example of failure to promote ride-sharing programs and to inform the public through something as simple as a few signs. This must change.

In conclusion, while you have recommended many laudable ideas, your transit proposals simply don’t go far enough.

Cheri Briscoe, Chair
Great Waters Group-Sierra Club
2016 E. Windsor Place
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone: 414- 390-0159
Email: cherib@wi.rr.com

Letter to Governor Jim Doyle on I-94 Expansion

GREAT WATERS GROUP
John Muir Chapter
www.wisconsin.sierraclub.org/gwg
Cheri Briscoe, Chairperson, 2016 E. Windsor Place, Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone:414-390-0159 Email cherib@wi rr.com


Governor Jim Doyle
115 East, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702

December 19, 2007

Dear Governor Doyle,

The Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club, concurs with the resolution passed by the Milwaukee City Council to support the 6 lane rebuild option on the I-94 North-South Corridor, with the extra $200 million dollars applied to Kenosha-Racine Metra and transit projects.
Enclosed are our comments that were sent to the WisDOT at their public hearings on the I-94-North South Corridor Project.

We appreciate the initiatives that you are promoting to improve our environment and our impact on Global Warming; however, the 8 lane option is expensive and simply lacks vision for the anticipated population that will be using this corridor in the 21st Century. Our position is further explained in the comments which are enclosed. Also, enclosed are comments which were sent in 2006 regarding the SEWRPC 2035 transportation plans for Southeastern Wisconsin.
They lack vision and courage.

From an environmental equity standpoint, we urge you to consider the need to provide reliable and efficient transit options with their considerable environmental superiority for workers who cannot afford automobiles to allow them to attain reliable transportation to and from jobs in the area.

We urge you to direct Secretary Busalacchi and WisDOT to rethink this 8-lane proposal. Its costs are probably underestimated due to the oil and gas crisis and it fails to address the needs of the 21st Century.

Sincerely,


Cheri Briscoe

Testimony before the Wisconsin Dept of Transportation from a hearing in Dec., 2007

Concerning the reconstruction of I-94

I live in New Berlin and one would think I would have less of a concern about this section of I-94 than points west. But I am very interested. For example, the daughter of a friend goes to college in northern Chicago and has no car. In making arrangements to get her to our house for Thanksgiving, we found that the best way was for her to take the train to Kenosha where we could pick her up by car. Travel by the Metra was quick and convenient. How much better it would have been had the train been able to take her all the way to Milwaukee, or, better yet, to New Berlin.

Highways only provide a means of transportation to one segment of society: those with enough money to have a vehicle. And so we put more money into providing transportation options for the people who already have money, leaving the poor relatively stranded. The objective of government should be to help spread the wealth around, to make life just a little easier for those without the wherewithal to have just a little bit better life. Putting money into more lanes while the mass transit situation in southeastern Wisconsin is among the worst in the world is an abomination and ignores the equality clause of the 14th amendment. We still have not learned the lessons of the Civil War.

SEWRPC recently responded to remarks by the Florida-based traffic engineer, Walter Kulash. When he suggested that land use control, smart growth, public transit and improved arterials would be better answers than more lanes, SEWRPC said that that freeways were constructed because of congestion. But that’s not the whole story. Collusion between the auto, oil and bus companies, documented in a recent PBS program, resulted in streetcars being downgraded and dismantled rather than upgraded and expanded. Freeways were a result of poor planning and special interest money buying out transit systems across the country along with advertising dollars spent to increase people’s desires to travel by car rather than a logical progression: remember “See the USA in your Chevrolet”?

Alternatively, Europe and most other countries did not fall into the same trap. All people there have options. I ask you to imagine the United States with no freeways. There would already be mass transit options for all people; our population would be more congregated around transportation centers, allowing more prairie, forest and farmland instead of urban sprawl. We would have saved trillions of gallons of oil, making us a richer country, with more oil available into the future for items like plastics and other oil-based products. Since it might take a little longer for goods to reach market by train than by truck, our infrastructure would be more attuned to local products rather than counting on China to make all our electronics, footwear and toys.

SEWRPC’s response to Mr. Kulash’s concern about suburban sprawl and the degrading of central cities was likewise unimaginative and incomplete. Again, one should imagine a region without freeways in the first place. Had SEWRPC done that, their answer would be very different.

While it is impossible to return to the past, it is possible to learn from our mistakes and the lessons learned from countries that did it right. Let’s look ahead to the past and stop the overspending on new highways and new lanes; we must divert that money into public transit, transportation for all, not just the majority. Mr. Kulash proved it’s the right decision monetarily. It’s the right decision for Wisconsin, for the environment of our planet, for the poor and for all our children. Listen to Mr. Kulash. Listen to the Milwaukee City Council. Recognize that constructing more lanes adds to the problem of global warming. Think now about 50 years from now, not just 5 years from now. Reconstruct I-94 to its present lane configuration, and put the residual in mass transit. And not buses, but fixed-track transportation. Please, no more lanes!

Bill Moore
4260 South Victoria Cir.
New Berlin, WI 53151
262-785-9022

Blue Green Alliance calls for Senate to take the lead in funding KRM

Contact:  Jon T. Geenen Director, United Steelworkers District 2, (920) 722-7630
Carla Klein Director, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter (608) 256-4562

As the Senate begins its work this week good jobs and a clean environment are goals of the Steelworkers and Sierra Club’s Blue-Green Alliance.  This strategic alliance was formed between the United Steelworkers, North America's largest private sector manufacturing union with 850,000 members, and the Sierra Club, the nation's largest grassroots environmental organization with 750,000 members. The Blue/Green Alliance focuses its efforts in pursuit of an economy that is just, equitable and founded on principles of environmental and economic sustainability.

We believe it is imperative that wise investments in infrastructure are made that will guide economic development that supports long-term sustainability.  Future investments must catalyze job growth and improve access to jobs for all, while conserving energy.

KRM commuter rail is just such a pivotal investment in Southeast Wisconsin. The Blue/Green Alliance supports KRM and is actively working to win its approval. We are disappointed in the Joint Finance Committee’s recent failure to approve the $13 rental car fee as a local funding source for KRM, and now look to the state Senate to take a leadership role on KRM.

KRM will be a reliable, affordable, energy efficient link to a substantial job market that is currently unavailable to many people. The SE Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority recently announced that nearly 1 million jobs currently exist within 1 mile of the stations between Milwaukee and Chicago. They also found that up to 36% of the households near urban KRM stations do not have autos to reach the jobs in the region. KRM, along with local transit systems, will assist in expanding job opportunities, by supporting the growth of 75,000 jobs in the next 20 years from the building and development near KRM stations as well as the construction and operation of KRM. Since the jobs are located near the train stations, they will be accessible by environmentally friendly transit.

The KRM Project is a powerful energy conservation tool that will shrink our future energy burden, reducing unhealthy smog and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Public transit allows us to become less dependent on foreign oil which strengthens our national security.  Instead of exporting our hard-earned income to purchase gasoline from foreign countries, KRM allows those dollars to stay working in our local economy.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must begin regulating global warming pollution.  The trading of carbon credits has already begun. Nearly one third of global warming emissions in the U.S. come from the tailpipes of autos. In the not-to-distant future, our region will have the choice of using our carbon emission allotment for transporting people, or for job-supporting business activities. Businesses will look to locate in communities with built in comprehensive transit networks.

Clearly KRM and vibrant local transit connections are not only smart investments, they are crucial to our future. We are at a historic moment—a tipping point. We can take hold of this unique opportunity to create a successful future, or let it slip away.

Our elected leaders must lay aside their differences and work together now to make both KRM and healthy local transit systems a reality.

KRM Commuter Rail from an email to Sierra Club Membership from Kerry Thomas of Transit Now

The following testimony contains information which you may use to oppose constructing additional lanes or highways in Wisconsin, especially at the hearings offered by the Department of Transportation concerning the reconstruction of I-94.

ROAD TO THE FUTURE COMMITTEE

GREAT WATERS GROUP
SIERRA CLUB

Position Statement

Gentlemen,

My name is Bill Moore, 4260 So. Victoria Cir. in New Berlin.   I am the Transportation and Development Chair of the Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club and speak for our 3,500 members on transportation issues.  The group’s area encompasses the four counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington.

I’m pleased that the legislature fells it is important to do long-range planning for transportation as we are at a turning point in our nation’s history.  Petroleum analysts say that within a year we will be at the historic peak in the world’s ability to pump oil out of the ground.  Reserve discoveries have been declining in recent years, both in number and in field size.  As wells get pumped dry, replacement wells are pumping from smaller and smaller fields.  As the market responds to this fact, prices will continue to increase.  Consumers will wise up and continue the trend to smaller, more efficient cars, including hybrids. I own one.  They may even realize they can save money by driving slower and more efficiently.

Yes, change is coming.  But government needs to change, too.  People are starting to realize that they can save fuel and money by living closer to their work or the places they like to go.  Remodeled and new downtown condominium construction is booming.  To respond both to the trend and to help the people meet the needs of the future, the greatest need is not in more roads, not in more driving lanes, not in a greater ability to drive farther and farther to work from secluded country homes.  The greatest need is in the area of mass transit. 

Yes, there will be alternative fuels available, but we know that most of them will be limited.  The world cannot now feed its people with the food it produces, limiting the potential of biofuels, including ethanol, to only a stopgap supply.  A cheap supply of hydrogen, made in large enough quantities without petroleum, is questionable at best.  Meanwhile, petroleum continues to spew carbon dioxide into the air, exacerbating global warming, and chemicals that cause smog and respiratory problems such as asthma.  We must look beyond the near future and search for what is best not only for the most people, but for the planet’s future.  We only have one planet.  

Is mass transit expensive?  Is road building expensive?  We have hit our limit in need for new highways.  The choice is simple; decrease the road building budget and put it into mass transit.  Road building, at 1.1 billion dollars, can be virtually eliminated, while putting a little of that saved money into maintenance (which has been falling behind) and the greatest share into mass transit.  Just think what could be accomplished with 700 million dollars a year: commuter rail, light rail, bicycle trails, electric guided buses, subways, trolleys or a portion thereof, interconnecting cities and crisscrossing metropolitan areas just like progressive cities now do across the world!

Is Milwaukee too small for a sophisticated system?  Boston was relatively small when they installed the first subway in the U.S. in 1897 as was Budapest when it built one of the first subways in Europe.  Torino, Italy population 800,00, has a subway.  In fact, almost every metropolitan area in the U.S., Canada and Europe our size or larger has more mass transit than Milwaukee, including dedicated lane or track systems.  Smaller Madison has a better bicycle trail system.  It’s time we caught up.   

Fewer and fewer road construction projects are begun without opposition.  The opposition to highway 164 expansion is just a drop in the bucket.  90% of the speakers at hearings on the Milwaukee freeway reconstruction objected to any lane increases.  And most of them spoke not because their property was going to be affected.  The objected because they understand what additional lanes mean to the future of the planet: more sprawl, more impervious surface, more water supply problems, dirtier air, more noise and global warming.  (And congestion will return to present-day level in about five years, according to analysts.)  These people cared for their children’s future.

Statistics also show mass transit to be a whole lot safer than automobiles.

The Sierra Club cares.  That’s who we are. 

The Sierra Club recommends the state engage in a long-term plan of decreasing new highway construction and increasing mass transit that does not use automobile roadways.  Buses that mix with traffic will never be popular, since their movement is constricted the same is automobile traffic is.  People need confidence both in fast, frequently scheduled and available travel plus the confidence the route won’t change, both a problem with buses and not with tracked or guided transit.

This is the better way.

William F. Moore
262-785-9022
formor09@sbcglobal.net

Commuter Train = CLEANER AIR, LESS TRAFFIC, LESS SPRAWL

You could ride on the train by 2009. Watch for action alerts and help make sure this opportunity does not pass us by!  

The sensible solution to the problems of sprawl and traffic is expanding our transportation choices and better planning and development.

More travel choices can reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, promote neighborhood economic opportunities, and help to control sprawl. It also helps to build safer, more vibrant communities.

Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties and cities are working together to develop a 33-mile extension of the Chicago Metra Union Pacific North rail line that would use upgraded existing rail to connect northeastern Illinois and Chicago to the Wisconsin communities of Kenosha, Somers, Racine, Caledonia, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, Cudahy and Milwaukee (Amtrak station).

The Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter train Metra extension is an attractive transportation plan that will help to:

• Provide modern, efficient, reliable connections to a multitude of world-class employment, educational, cultural, entertainment, and recreational opportunities to the south. Travel times are similar to driving a car during low traffic congestion.
• Cut down on traffic. KRM commuter rail extension is projected to reduce cars on I-94 north of the Illinois border by up to 12 %.
• Cut air pollution. Most rail-ridership will be diverted from autos, which cause 75% of our hazardous air pollution.
• Reduce sprawl by directing future development to existing communities around transit stops. Commuter trains encourage transit-oriented development, resulting in communities that are efficiently served by transit, biking and walking.
• Provide a safer, more reliable, less-stressful alternative to congested highway travel. Commuter rail is not subject to traffic, weather, and construction delays.
• Be an accessible and a practical choice for commuting with 362,100 jobs and 540,000 residents projected within 3 miles of the proposed stations in Wisconsin. Three out of Wisconsin’s five largest cities are on the KRM route. Nearly every stop is served by local bus service. Three dedicated shuttles are planned to transport train passengers in large downtown areas.
• Compliment Amtrak’s “high-speed” inter-city service to Chicago. Priced like a bus – with dozens of stops in densly populated urban areas between Milwaukee and Chicago – it provides a high-quality daily commuting option for trips of varying lengths all along the corridor.  The average trip length is projected to be 33 miles.     

KRM commuter trains are a safe, efficient and quiet addition to our transportation system that will reduce traffic, pollution, and sprawl—and provide a healthier environment for our children.

Information and updates: www.transitnow.org  Transit NOW:  262-246-6151

We want to involve more members in all of our conservation activities, expanding the role of the interest groups that comprise the Conservation Committee. If you'd like to be involved in a conservation area, or have your own ideas for action that can be taken, please contact our Conservation Chair found on the About Us page. 

If you want to find out more about our many other volunteer opportunities, please see our Volunteer page.

Contact Us
Sierra Club^®  is a registered trademark of the Sierra Club.