Transit authority rolls on commuter rail planning (UPDATE)

Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee rail runs out of track (UPDATE)

Published: July 25, 2011
Tags: Al Richards, Board of Supervisors, commuter rail, Julia Taylor, Karl Ostby, Kenneth Yunker, KRM, Lee Holloway, Scott Walker, SERTA, Southeastern Regional Transit Authority

By James Briggs Another Wisconsin rail proposal is dead, forcing millions of dollars to return to various senders as a public transit board begins to dissolve. The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority on Monday initiated the process of disbursing its $1.2 million in assets among three counties. The dissolution of SERTA kills a proposed $200 million, [...]

View from around the state: Boneheaded move on transit

Published: May 10, 2011
Tags: high-speed rail, Joint Finance Committee, KRM, Rail, Robin Vos, Scott Walker

In a recent lamentable vote, state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, led the state’s Joint Finance Committee to vote 12-4 along party lines to do away with recently authorized regional transit authorities in southeastern Wisconsin and four other areas of the state. It is a boneheaded and short-sighted maneuver that could well ring the death knell [...]

Budget panel eliminates RTAs around state

Published: May 3, 2011
Tags: budget committee, Grigsby, KRM, Robin Vos, RTA

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Legislature’s budget-writing committee has wiped out four regional transit authorities around the state. The last state budget allowed for the creation of so-called RTAs in the Chippewa Valley, the Chequamegon Bay region and Dane County. The authorities can levy taxes to give money to local transportation systems, although only the [...]

Kenosha finds own route to rail station improvements

Published: December 20, 2010
Tags: Keith Bosman, Kenosha, Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail, Khaligian, KRM, Metra, Milwaukee, Partners in Design, Rail, Ron Iwen, Sparti's Gyros, station, Thomas O'Connell, train
Comments: 1

By Marie Rohde The renovation of Kenosha’s train station, the last stop on the Chicago Metra line and what commuter train planners want to be a part of a new connection to Milwaukee, is almost complete. “We’re looking at finishing it by the end of January,” said Ron Iwen, Kenosha’s transit director, of the new [...]

Editorial cartoon

Published: August 6, 2010
Tags: cartoon, Illinois, KRM, Rail, regional rail, Wisconsin
Comments: 1

It’s Chicago versus Wisconsin: Rail projects vie for federal money

Published: August 3, 2010
Tags: Chicago, federal grant, Federal Transit Administration, Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line, KRM, Metra, New Starts, Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission
Comments: 1

By Justin Kern Special to The Daily Reporter Two potential rail partners are competing for the same pool of federal money for projects in Wisconsin and Illinois. In Wisconsin, the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority expects to hear a response from the Federal Transit Administration by September or October on a grant request for the first [...]

Lawmakers oppose KRM commuter rail application

Two Wisconsin lawmakers are joining the fight to delay preliminary engineering work for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project. State Reps. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, and Robin Vos, R-Racine, sent a letter to the Federal Transit Administration asking that it deny the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority‘s application to begin preliminary engineering on the estimated $232.7 million rail [...]

Commuter rail dispute threatens project engineering

Published: June 17, 2010
Tags: Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail, KRM, Lee Holloway, Michael Mayo, Milwaukee County bus system, Milwaukee County Regional Transit Authority, Ostby, Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority, Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, Yunker
Comments: 2

By Sean Ryan Local supporters of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail project are divided as Milwaukee County officials try to delay project engineering. The Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority within a week will apply for federal approval to begin engineering the estimated $232.7 million rail project. But Milwaukee County RTA representatives are asking federal officials to [...]

KRM rolls closer to construction money

Published: June 4, 2010
Tags: Americans for Prosperity, Federal Transit Administration, grant, Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail, Kerry Thomas, KRM, Linda Valentine, Mantes, Mark Block, Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, Transit Now, Yunker
Comments: 1

By Sean Ryan Proposed changes to the judging of construction grant applications would give commuter rail in southeastern Wisconsin a less obstructed path to federal money. But rail opponents argue projects such as the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter line are not worth the money, regardless of how the Federal Transit Administration ranks grant applications. “I think that [...]