La Follette Avenue
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At the meeting, DOT officials and consultants indicated familiarity with railroad corridor and its problems, nothing they have walked and photographed the urban corridor. They asked corridor management team members to identify problematic spots in the corridor and to state top concerns. Many team members highlighted pedestrian-bicycle access.
DOT officials and consultants did not indicate that they would release a summary of the team’s comments to the public. Chuck Wade, who must be a consultant, said limited server space meant they could not post the 2008 aerial photos used as large displays for team members to add post-it notes to indicate areas of concern. He said they were working with the city to post the photos. However, the city lacks a centralized high speed rail web page as of Thursday, September 9.
Organization of group
Also called a “focus group,” the team was organized by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation based on a list submitted by city of Madison officials. However, the packet given the corridor management teams says the city of Madison selected the team members. DOT added several participants to ensure representation from Dane County, the town of Burke and perhaps other areas.
The corridor management team is limited to advising about roadway grade crossings, bike-pedestrian crossings and “fencing/maintenance,” according to the packet given the corridor management team.
City staff member Chris Klein was not present on September 8. Wade said District 6 alder Marsha Rummel had a conflict and could not attend, but she is a member of the corridor management team.
The team is an advisory group. The Federal Highway Administration and the Wisconsin Office of the Railroad Commissioner make the final decisions.
Meetings
The team will meet again in October, probably the week of the 20th; in November, probably the week of the 15th; and again the first week of December. Wade said a public information meeting will be held in early December and might be combined with the transportation management corridor meeting and might be combined with a meeting about the station. “We admit it is an aggressive schedule,” a DOT official or consultant told the group.
The packet given to the corridor management team includes a fourth meeting in February or March. The team’s final recommendations would be issued in spring 2011. Someone would prepare a draft corridor management plan document prior to spring 2011. The corridor management plan document would be finalized in April 2011. The months that refer to “spring” are not defined, and the language is in the passive voice, so the reader cannot tell whether the DOT or the consultants are doing the work.
The process It is unclear as to when when general members of the public will be able to ask questions about the corridor and how it will affect them. The one “community workshop” DOT held in Madison on August 31 focused on the downtown train station. However, DOT officials and Klein from the city have said they will meet with smaller neighborhood groups who request such meetings.
Fencing
At the December meeting the group will make recommendations for fencing locations. The type of fencing to be used will not be decided until after December 2010. The corridor design is to be finalized by April 2011.
Wade said that DOT and the consultants have a schedule for releasing photos of the possible types of fencing and they do not want to release it too soon. However, a presentation slide listed tubular steel or other; chain link; and woven wire. One wonders whether the fencing types will be released in mid-December with recommendations due in early January. A DOT official or consultant told the group that fencing 5 to 8 feet high has been discussed, but nothing definitive has been decided, DOT officials and consultants emphasized. The recommended minimum is that a fence be 30 feet from the center of the track. More decisions on fencing by DOT and the consultants may be coming in six to eight weeks.
In the opening presentations, DOT or private consultants showed slides that observers asked them to post online. Between the DOT staff members and the consultants, there were nearly one person for every member of the citizen corridor management team present. In the list in the team packet, 21 people are listed as “Focus Group Contacts.” The group dynamic was well-handled by the DOT officials and consultants.
Other details
The engineers designing the crossings take into account sightlines and have many tables and formulas they consult. They said they are trying to do everything they can to keep the official pedestrian-bicycle crossings that exist now. The one at Wirth Court Park is highly problematic because of its location on the curve, but one person, likely a consultant, said they have an idea they are exploring to move the crossing northwest along the tracks, create a tunnel under the railroad, and place a path parallel to the tracks to connect back to the bike path south of the railroad.
The train ultimately, once all the design specifications are implement in the next few years, will being traveling 45 to 90 miles an hour inside Madison. The curve at Wirth Court Park, known as Junction A, is a design challenge for those speeds. Consultants hope to have the train going at least 40 miles an hour there and are confident they will be able to have to go more than 30 miles an hour. They did not say whether the train would speed up once it passed the curve.
Crossings might have multiple gates to keep people from trying to beat the train. The Federal Railroad Administration prefers to close crossings. The DOT and consultants “need” to submit grade crossing options to the Wisconsin Office of he Commissioner of Railroads in December so the hearing process does not delay the project. Someone thought to be a DOT official said the distance from Corry Street to Winnebago Street is a long way to not have a crossing. He said asking for a pedestrian-bicycle crossing would not hurt, but would be unlikely to be granted.
DOT officials and consultants said they are designing everything so that that the entire corridor can be whistle-free under the current standards; however, they cautioned that federal and state governments could change the standards and that the city has to reapply for whistle-free zone every three years under the current standards. They expect to have the sound design study done by the end of October.
How the results of all the studies will be communicated to the corridor management team or the general public was not shared with the group.
La Follette Avenue High-Speed Rail Corridor Group
Web site is published by Karen Faster, 133 Ohio Avenue, Madison WI 53704
rail@ohioavenue.com
Updated October 21, 2010
Posted September 15, 2010