The Dane County Board and the
Madison City Council have approved a long-range $242-million
regional transportation plan that includes light rail, streetcars and
an expanded bus network. The program, developed
by Transport 2020, a committee made up of city, county and state
representatives, includes a 10.9-mi. (17.5 km)
commuter rail line between East Towne Mall and
Greenway Center in Middleton, a streetcar loop in
downtown Madison and more bus service throughout
the metropolitan area. A source of capital funding for the program still
hasn’t been identified. The next step will be to create an
implementation task force and submit a funding application to the federal
government for preliminary engineering. The state of Wisconsin has promised
to fund half the estimated $2.5 to $3.5 cost.
