SHAM TRAM? SCANT INFO ON CONNECTOR ACCORD

By Michael Horne

I hope you have plenty of memory in your computer, because I'm going to download the entire Common Council files on the proposed Milwaukee Connector project right now. We'll give you all the links, too.
Ready?
Here is the entirety of the files for City of Milwaukee Common council Legislative File Number 051610:
"Resolution expressing the City of Milwaukee's support for the Milwaukee Connector public transit project."
That's it, in its entirety. No "whereas," "be it resolved" or "be it further resolved" clauses. Nothing, in fact, for an alderman or for the public to know exactly what it is the Steering and Rules Committee will discuss when the file comes up.
This leads an inquiring mind to wonder why there is such scant information available. Usually the reason is because the information that does exist is bad, poorly-researched or ultimately more expensive than we should know.
The silent treatment is especially handy when very large sums and very large projects are involved.
It is well documented that a move was afoot in private for several years to transfer control of the publicly-owned Mitchell International Airport from the county board to an unelected regional authority. That disaster benefited from silence and the withholding of information, and there is reason to be concerned that the proponents of the Milwaukee Connector project have not been particularly aggressive at advancing their cause, judging from the paucity of information out there. This group has spent $6 million studying an alternative form of transportation for the region, and what do we get for it? Surreptitiously introduced legislation unsupported by documentation.
When the file was submitted to the city clerk on March 23rd, he was unaware it was immediately on its way. His staff, significantly, had not been engaged in drafting legislation to express the City's support for the connector public transit project.
However, a source has provided milwaukeeworld with a Draft Common Council Resolution dated March 16th. The final resolution to be considered by the council will likely differ from the one before me which reads as if it were written by an engineer, probably from HNTB, the giant consulting firm that significantly has nothing about the Milwaukee Connector on its website, despite its intimate involvement with the project.
In a document that includes a staggering 22 "whereas" clauses, one "resolved" clause and four "further resolved" clauses, the draft proposal tells us that it has been seventeen years since $241 million in federal transportation aid was allocated to our area, and six years since the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County reached agreement to use $91.5 million to implement results of the Milwaukee Connector project."
The connector would be a "guided street tram" which "represents the new generation of bus rapid transit technology."
The next whereas tells us "the guided street tram is the best choice to fit the urban fabric of Milwaukee, versus the other technologies that have" [the sentence just dies right there.]
This miracle machine with "twice the life span of buses ... provides a flexible dual mode system operating on a guidance track with electric overhead power or optional being 'off-line' powered with a hybrid diesel/electric generator providing a more environmentally friendly public transportation system for downtown."
One whereas clause mentions "the proposed routes" for the guided tram. Somebody has penciled in a change so the sentence now reads, "the currently proposed routes."
These routes would "connect the city's major attractions, business centers, hotels, universities, hospitals, sports and entertainment venues, theaters, museums, dense residential neighborhoods and more with modern transportation."
So, then, what we have is a very poorly promoted proposal for a rubber wheeled transit system that will operate on overhead wires along an invisible track but can switch to a diesel engine for a little off-roading. The system would apparently operate two routes on 13 miles of already heavily-developed streets where it will displace a certain amount of parking and all buses.
Oh, and it's French technology, never before tested in the United States of America.
Sounds like a bus to me. Let's call it the "Sham Tram."
The final "further resolved" clause in the draft document states that the "Common Council directs the City's representative on the Milwaukee Connector Steering Committee to support the guided street tram as the locally preferred alternative and to vote "yes" to advance the next phase of the study which is preliminary engineering."
The proposal has raised the ire of Ald. Robert Bauman, chair of the Public Works Committee, which ordinarily would have had jurisdiction over the matter had Council President Willie Hines, Jr., the resolution's sponsor, not instead moved the file to the Steering and Rules Committee, which he heads.
Bauman has issued three releases against the proposal. He argues that the routes proposed for the connector are already served by buses and are virtually fully developed. He feels a connector system of some sort (Bauman, who was once in the railroad car business, is a fan of rails) that would operate in the city's lesser developed areas, like the Menomonee Valley as a spur to new businesses and residents.
Bauman would also like to see transportation dollars used to bring high speed and/or commuter rail to Milwaukee, which he said would provide a greater economic and social benefit than replacing Milwaukee's buses with -- buses.
The Milwaukee Connector has a website that contains a number of recommendations, studies and cost estimates. It is considerably out of date, with the most recent news dating to 2004. This is curious, especially since the connector is so close to being studied by the common council.
Take a look for yourself, and avail yourself of an opportunity to place your comment at the site
On March 25th, the city of Orleans, France, chose against a rubber tired tram system in favor of conventional steel wheels and rail.
[Update: March 29 2006 -- The Common Council file language will be introduced tomorrow, and we will update you when the information comes in. --Ed.]