La Follette Avenue
High-Speed Rail Corridor Group

Waubesa Street to Winnebago Street and Anziger Court
aka most of Census Track 20-Block Group 4, per the 2000 census

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Meeting set for La Follette Avenue corridor area residents

By Karen Faster
Residents and property owners in the immediate vicinity of the high-speed rail corridor between Waubesa Street and Winnebago Street-Anziger Court are invited to a one-hour meeting with one or more high-speed rail policy experts and/or engineers from the public and/or private sectors.

Questions submitted and answers received

Dan Melton, La Follette Avenue resident and member of the corridor management plan focus group, submitted questions on October 13 on behalf of people living and owning property along the corridor to DOT officials / consultants. A consultant returned answers October 20.

PDF of questions and answers

La Follette corridor group still meeting

The one-hour meeting organized by the La Follette Avenue High-Speed Rail Corridor Group will still convene 4-5 p.m. on Thursday, October 21, at the Goodman Community Center with Wisconsin Department of Transportation staff and/or its consultants.

Word came in late October 20 that the three-hour meeting of the Corridor Management Plan Focus Group representing the entire Madison high-speed rail corridor has been postponed.

Members of the advisory group of representatives of neighborhoods along the corridor were emailed by consultant Chuck Wade at 4:45 p.m. about the postponement: "To make this focus group productive, it is very important to have complete information available. WisDOT and the diagnostic team require additional time to fully scrutinize the issues prior to bringing them forward for focus group input. We sincerely apologize for this late cancelation notice, but feel it is important to postpone this meeting. Soon we will have more complete information to share with the focus group, making the most out of your limited time."

The focus group was to discuss the findings and preliminary crossing treatment recommendations from the DOT/consultants diagnostic team efforts that are in progress.

These meetings are structured so that people not on the team/focus group may attend but not ask questions.

The corridor managment plan focus group was to cover each intersection within the city of Madison. The consultants anticipate that the discussion fill the entire three hours for the meeting. Draft agenda for postponed October 21 meeting .

BACKGROUND: Report on September 8 corridor management plan team focus group

October 6 meeting is similar to session held September 8

 

Consultants affiliated with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will be on hand from 4-5 p.m. on Thursday, October 21, at the Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa Street. The La Follette Avenue High-Speed Rail Corridor Group is soliciting questions from residents and property owners prior to the meeting to ensure efficient use of the 60 minutes. All residents are encouraged to submit questions in advance to rail[at]ohioavenue[dot]com or write to 133 Ohio Avenue 53704. PDF of questions to be asked

Questions submitted in advance about the immediate geographical area will be given priority. Questions from the floor that are specific to the immediate geographical area will be posed next. If time allows, questions on any topic can be posed at the end of the hour.

The mission of the La Follette Avenue corridor group is to present recommendations to the DOT/consultants' Corridor Management Plan Focus Group/Team that is advising state officials on safety concerns and which legal crossings to close. According to consultant Chuck Wade, recommendations must be made by December. The La Follette Avenue group plans to collect the answers given at the Oct. 21 meeting, track those that continue to remain {intentional redundancy} unanswered and report back to those who submitted them and then compile recommendations based input from residents and property owners in immediate vicinity of the corridor, approximately two blocks to the north and at least one block south.

A priority for some members of the corridor group is to read the federal policy that outlines the fencing requirement in relation to train speed. A fence 5 to 8 feet high is likely to be built all along the corridor, dividing the east half of Madison's Isthumus for more than 3 miles from northeast of state Highway 30 all the way to Blair Street near the Capitol. The hope is that the consultants will share the information necessary for lay people to be able to locate the policy online or at the Law School library.

A second priority is to identify how property owners whose property is adjacent to the railroad right of way can find out how the construction and fencing will affect them. A DOT official or consultant said September 8 that property owners would have to attend an as-yet unscheduled public hearing about the entire high-speed rail project to be held after the corridor management plan team/focus group makes its recommendations to the DOT/consultants.

Reports are coming in from other areas of the city that garages, sheds and gardens are on railroad right of way. Reports also are coming in that some property owners have been able to talk with DOT officials and go over their concerns on site. However, no process seems to be in place for residents to find out how to contact DOT or consultants to request such an individual meeting.

Property owners want to know what to expect and how to find out information now, throughout the construction process and what to do afterward when maintenance questions come up. Many of the residents along the La Follette Avenue corridor area mow and clean up debris in the absence of care by the railroad. One question for the Oct. 21 meeting will be to ask the DOT/consultants to detail the communications plan to property owners and which agency will be managing it from year to year.

A third priority will be to ask questions about plans to close streets and pedestrian-bicycle crossings. The Division Street and Wirth Court Park ped-bike crossings, Corry Street and Waubesa Street are all candidates to be closed, as far as one can discern. A DOT official said September 8 after the first corridor management plan focus group/team meeting that the 0.4 mile stretch from Corry Street to the Division Street ped-bike crossing is a long stretch to not have access across the tracks. The La Follette Avenue High-Speed Rail Corridor Group has discussed requesting an additional ped-bike crossing, which was one the original development plans for Union Corners, connecting the bottom of Jackson Street to the new path along the north side of the tracks connecting the Division Street crossing with the bottom of Farwell Street.

above article posted October 10, 2010

 

La Follette Avenue High-Speed Rail Corridor Group

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Web site is published by Karen Faster, 133 Ohio Avenue, Madison WI 53704
rail@ohioavenue.com

Posted September 14, 2010