WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsChippewa Valley could see new passenger rail within 10 years

Chippewa Valley could see new passenger rail within 10 years

Madison (WQOW) -- The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has a plan for high-speed passenger rail system and Eau Claire could be riding the train within 10 years. 

WisDot’s plan to connect Minneapolis to Chicago with a passenger rail, called Connections 2030, goes through Milwaukee, Madison, the Wisconsin Dells, and then?  There has been much debate over where the line would go next.  La Crosse and Eau Claire are at the forefront of the argument. 

Connections 2030 has been approved by WisDOT, and a definitive high-speed passenger rail route is still hazy.  There is a “Badger State Corridor” that runs from Madison to Eau Claire through Wisconsin Dells. 

The schedule for this project is for high-speed rail to be implemented between 2014 and 2019.  A “Chippewa Valley Corridor” has the same timeframe.  That stretch of rail would run between Eau Claire and the Twin Cities through Hudson and Menomonie.  Here’s where it get’s hazy.  A “Coulee Country Corridor” runs from La Crosse to Tomah, with the same completion goals.  So is WisDOT planning on building both high speed rail routes by 2019?  

The confusion doesn’t stop there.  The language in the project reads: “Implement intercity passenger rail service between St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN and Chicago, IL via Eau Claire with proposed stops in Hudson, Menomonie, Eau Claire, Wisconsin Dells, Portage, Madison…AND/OR via La Crosse with proposed stops in Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, Portage, (and) Madison.”  Implementation will be based on the results of an environmental study.” 

This study would consider factors like cost and potential ridership.  There’s no word on a timeframe associated with the environmental study. 

Another big question that remains is funding.  WisDOT is in the process of applying for $500 million to $600 million in additional stimulus funds to implement high speed rail from Milwaukee to Madison.  The funding is part of billions that a number of states are fighting over. 

The stimulus funding would only take care of “short term” projects.  WisDOT doesn’t have a plan to fund “Mid-term” projects like the “Chippewa Valley” and “Badger State Corridors”.  WisDOT leaders will however explore options for funding.  Among those options: an increase in the fuel tax, registration fees, and sales taxes.  In the plan, WisDOT makes it very clear it will not create a state toll way. 

So although there is a plan, the future of high-speed rail in the Chippewa Valley does not have a definite timeframe.