Kenosha — Streetcar Extension Funded

Rail Transit Online, September 2010

The City of Kenosha has been tentatively awarded a $4.2-million federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant to help extend the existing two-mile (3.2 km) streetcar loop, but so far there's no specific plan for the money.

Kenosha Transit Director Ron Iwen said the city would have to match the award with $1.05 million in local funds and decide where to place the tracks. "It's tentative," Iwen told the Kenosha News. "We don't have plans on how we're going to use it and it has to go before the City Council. It's in the infancy stage right now."

The line now runs from the downtown railroad station to the lakefront using five restored ex-Toronto PCC cars. The city applied for the money citing a possible 3.4-mi. (5.5 km) extension to uptown or Carthage College but Iwen said it could be several years until a decision is made; there'sapparently no deadline for using the grant.

Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said he prefers a north-south expansion through downtown but added he's not certain any project will be built. "If there is no will to expand the system, we will have to send the money back," Bosman told the Kenosha News. "Now that we have the grant, we will decide if we will actually use it, but a lot is yet to be determined."