Kenosha OKs new streetcar route
Written by Douglas John Bowen
In a 10-to-5 vote, the Kenosha, Wis., City Council approved an expansion of the city's streetcar operations, in essence adding a north-south line layered over its existing east-west route.
The split vote, taken Sept. 22, 2014, reflected ongoing tensions over streetcars in the city, and followed a two-hour public hearing where supporters and opponents traded observations on the project’s value, including its potential for economic development. But council approval appeared likely last week, with the result therefore being unsurprising.
The new route would establish “a north-south loop” bounded by 48th Street, Sixth Avenue, 61st Street, and Eighth Avenue, according to local media.
Expected to cost $10.3 million to implement, the city expects to cover 80% of the costs through federal funding, possibly from the Federal Transit Administration’s Small Starts program.
Kenosha’s existing 1.7-mile streetcar east-west route, patrolled by PCC streetcars, links the city’s Metra passenger station with the city marina and two parks along Lake Michigan.
Many U.S. streetcar supporters consider Kenosha a model for adaptive reuse of heritage streetcar equipment, as well as an outlier pro-rail city in Wisconsin, a state recently hostile to urban and intercity rail transit. Supporters point to nearby Milwaukee, and its decades-long effort to establish a streetcar despite opposition from county and state leaders, as a contrasting example.
