2007-2008 Issues

ENCOURAGE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES

The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities supports legislation to encourage and enable creation of regional transportation authorities wherever the need arises across Wisconsin, with built-in flexibility in structure, governance and financing to allow for the diversity in regional transportation needs across Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is the only Midwestern state that lacks statewide enabling authority for local governments to create regional transportation authorities.

Regional transportation is wildly successful and expanding by leaps and bounds in other states. South Florida RTA’s Tri-Rail carries more than 250,745 passengers a month. Metra, Pace and the CTA are rolling out a $57 billion, 30-year list of suburb-to-suburb and Chicago transit projects.

A modern streetcar in Portland, Ore.

 There’s a demand from businesses throughout the state: southeastern Wisconsin, the Fox Valley, central Wisconsin, Dane County, Eau Claire and Chippewa counties and elsewhere. The demand is for a regional approach to transportation needs that connects people to jobs, shoppers to shopping opportunities, and visitors to cultural events and tourist attractions. There’s demand from senior citizens for transportation to health care. There’s demand from everyone who doesn’t drive, and from many who do.

Further, regional transportation encourages wise land use along transportation corridors and preserves agricultural land elsewhere. It promotes energy efficiency and prepares our economy for an era of increasingly expensive petroleum.

Some examples:

  • El Paso County and the Cities of Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and the town of Green Mountain Falls jointly operate a regional bus service and perform highway maintenance in the Pikes Peak region in Colorado to improve the quality of life and the economy of their region.

  • In the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, officials are planning a $689 million rail transit system to augment shuttle and local bus service. This service is expected to carry about 10,285 daily riders by 2025.

Transportation needs cross municipal and county lines today as they never have before. Wisconsin communities can either board this train or be left at the station. Flexible enabling legislation will ensure that Wisconsin can make the most use of 21st century transportation alternatives.