Milwaukee Streetcar System Planning Continues, Despite Derailment Efforts

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Preliminary work on Wisconsin’s first modern streetcar system continues, despite a derailment attempt by suburban Milwaukee Republicans.

GOP lawmakers on the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee are attempting to throw a wrench into plans to build a few miles of a streetcar line in downtown Milwaukee and the city’s east side. The Republicans recommended last week that utility rate payers not have to pay for any moving of utility lines for the project.

Downtown Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman says the Republicans’ action won’t halt streetcar-related work.

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“We’re continuing this final design process, as we do in every public works process. The engineers get together, they progressively advance to project to a greater level of specificity, and as that project advances, the exact cost, the exact level of interference, is identified.

Baumann says the engineering team may be able to alter the street car route so utility costs are lower. But even then he says any remaining costs would be rolled into a tax incremental financing package that aims to cover the local portion of what is largely a federally funded streetcar. Baumann says if the Milwaukee streetcar is halted, about 500 construction-related jobs would not begin. Governor Scott Walker says as he reviews the joint finance action, potential job loss is one issue he’s considering.

“There’s those points that have been raised about whatever work might be related to it. There’s the flip side that we’ve heard from employers over the years, about concerns about the costs of that. We’ll weigh all that.”

Walker has previously raised concerns about the Milwaukee streetcar project, but as governor, he’s also falling short of his plan to help create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin.