Here’s an amazing before and after in Madison. 2011-2025

Explain what that means in dumb-dumb terms for those of us who aren’t as versed in the intricacies. What’s the benefit?

I’ve detested gerrymandering for as long as I can remember. But perhaps now is not the time to unilaterally disarm when Republicans are currently working to gerrymander Texas even further and have shown no willingness to slow down in other states. We can’t keep playing by the rules when they don’t

Rebecca Bradley is big mad right about now cuz she didn’t get nominated.

E) Scott Walker rejecting full funding for 110mph Amtrak service between Milwaukee and Madison in 2010.

Was the door just…….unlocked?

I suspect this means Kwik Trip will get its first real competition from another gas station. Deforest is getting most of the money they needed to upgrade the interchange for a Buc-ees. I still think Buc-ees should be paying for the whole thing.

Is the blonde haired conductor lady (maybe 40’s,50’s with a blue shirt) working that train today? She’s my favorite.

Luckily this will die on governor Evers desk as will the Republican majorities in 2026.

Notice how ABC only used the one sentence Trump spoke that wasn’t complete gibberish and left out all the rest of the incoherent response.

I challenge your health insurance to provide that relief. My ENT dr does it yearly for me. Everyone should have that option. It’s amazingly better.

Good news for Madison’s North-South BRT project. Looks like US DOT will probably award it funding.

Platform construction resumed at the Amtrak station nearest me. It’s taken far too long but completion of it is now (probably) in sight. It means the Empire Builder won’t have to stop 4 or 5 times to load/unload passengers and we can get cool platform pics of the train.

This speaks to the broader problem of how friking long it takes to get just about ANY infrastructure project done in this country. It makes projects unnecessarily subject to the whims of changing political power, rising costs, and the justifiable view that government can’t do things effectively.

All electric on the BRT route.

Amtrak presents vision for Madison service Amtrak’s Board Meeting on May 22, 2025, included an initial concept for service to Madison: Two Hiawatha trains extended past Milwaukee to Pewaukee, Watertown, and Madison. Later phases would…

What was initially planned as 6 round trips back in 2010, then 4 RT at the start of Corridor ID and now just 2 if Amtrak has its way is exactly how you kill potential high ridership. Hopefully WISDOT sticks with 4RT.

wisarp.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/a...

A prime example is the platform construction happening at the Columbus station. Normal ADA compliant platforms being built, nothing fancy. It’s been over a year since they started and it’s still not finished. That should be a 2 month project, tops. Just boggles the mind.

FRA chaos is about to get worse It’s been building for months. Corridor ID projects nationwide have been slipping. No project has announced advancing into the next step since January 2025. Dozens of projects, including in W…

While the current administration is completely at fault for this chaos, it raises the larger frustration of why it takes so damn long to do any sort of infrastructure projects in the US and as a result are at the whims of shifting political changes.

wisarp.wordpress.com/2025/05/26/f...

Is there any word on what and how much rolling stock is going to be used?

Happy 1st birthday #AmtrakBorealis

Wait, are you saying this is an actual real life trail to rail project?

I wonder if Amtrak will keep leasing the Northstar equipment after WI gets its additional Venture equipment next year.

Metro Transit ridership in April surpasses pre-pandemic numbers for first time Ridership in April hit 1.3 million, the highest number recorded in nearly a decade.

Bus ridership in the Madison area surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time this April. Ridership on Metro Transit last month hit more than 1.3 million, the highest recorded that month in nearly a decade.

@liamberan.bsky.social reports:

isthmus.com/news/news/me...

2014 was their best year.

I’m diggn the Midwest venture car and loco.

Once the Muskego Yard bypass project is done you won’t see many freights going thru the intermodal station anymore (good thing), and these fun pics will be rare (bad thing).

If you take the train down to Chicago on the first departure on a Saturday morning you should be able to catch both Hiawatha sets and a Borealis set parked in the station. It’s on my to-do list of things to see.

I believe there is a project in the works to double track a portion of the Metra tracks where they turn to the west at Rondout to help alleviate that choke point.

An interesting tidbit in there are the 2 parcels owned by Madison but in different municipalities. Does that mean Madison has to pay property taxes on those parcels to the municipalities.

Tick tock, tick tock, you’re next Becky.