10,000,000 a mile for Kenosha Streetcars.

[Anonymous]

I visited Kenosha Streetcars last week and I was plesently surprised. The Streetcars come in 5 delicios colors to match my nails and they only cost 10 Mil. to build per mile with landscaping. They are all ex Toronto PCCs but may have come from other citys before that. There are plans to extend the line to the Casinos if the bill passes. The Line is 1.2 miles long and gets 500 riders per day. Which is intrsting because if the line were 10 miles long it would have 5,200 riders per day. So If its costs 100,000,000 to build a 10 mile streetcar line why do other citys have to come up with 500,000,000 to do the same thing. What is neat about this is that the tracks are buired in the grass and the green grass absorbs the sounds of the wheels. They ube concreat ties.

[rrnut282]

I would hope that includes all of the ancillary items like stations, platforms, dispatching center, power distribution, maintainence buildings, etc. $10 Mil / mile would get you a pretty nice 8 lane freeway through town in most places. Building a single track railroad through virgin territory only runs around $1M/mile, based upon the ones I've helped on.

[Anonymous]

I stopped in Kenosha a couple weeks ago. It's neat how the streetcar line passes adjacent to the Metra (CNW) station stop, and all the attractive new housing going up along the line, and the nice Lake Michigan park and views. Altogether a great redevelopment. Sparking a rejuvenation of the area. Is this area part of the former American Motors factory?

[dknelson]

Then Kenosha streetcar line is almost purely a tourist operation and is priced so low -- 25 cents a ride -- that it is clearly not really part of Kenosha's otherwise fairly robust bus transit system. I suppose there might be a few people who live in the condos who take the trolley to the amtrak station to go to work in Chicago.
It is a subsidized thing to get tourists coming to a town that has lost lots of factory jobs and is trying hard to become a bedroom community and tourist destination. The city was convinced to do this without expecting to profit from it. There are some very dedicated people who endlessly and tirelessly promote it.
Without question if you are in the area or if you like electric traction you have to check out the Kenosha PCCs. The natural history museum and the industrial museum are worth taking in as well.
The general area to the east on the lakefront is where the Simmons mattress factory was at one time - it had rail service. American Motors was further west.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

The city was convinced to do this without expecting to profit from it. There are some very dedicated people who endlessly and tirelessly promote it.
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Yes and unfortunaly one of the founders died from a heart attack from all the hard work 3 weeks after it opened. Maybe it was a GM hit?

[railman]

ten million dollars would'nt get you very far on the interstate, guys...tack on one overpass, property purchase, etc., and pretty soon you've got a highway eight lanes wide and twenty yards long.

So I think ten million for a streetcar line isn't that bad.