Common Council approves new street car plan for Milwaukee
Wisconsin News-- Downtown Milwaukee is one step closer to getting a modern street-car rail system. It’s been debated for over two decades, and the Common Council voted 10-5 yesterday to start engineering work.
MILWAUKEE - Downtown Milwaukee is one step closer to getting a modern street-car rail system. It’s been debated for over two decades, and the Common Council voted 10-5 yesterday to start engineering work.
City Comptroller Wally Morics will review the project before allocating construction funds. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been the chief supporter of the street-car system. He said the Council’s approval was a major step forward, but there’s a lot more work to do.
The street-cars are scheduled to start running in early 2014. The line will run for just over two miles from the east edge of the downtown on the lower east side to the Amtrak-Greyhound station on the west edge of the downtown. It will operate on street rails powered by overhead lines. A tax incremental financing district covers about $10-million-dollars of the cost. Federal aid is picking up the lion’s share, around $55-million.
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