DMI

“The rail system and the regional transportation system looks at the long-range transportation solution for our region. It cannot just be viewed in the context of the current roadway congestion and the highways presently in place but rather the rapidly growing population of the communities in our region and the inability to absorb more traffic into this system.”

Jeff Edge, Arnold & O’Sheridan, Inc.

Fastest growing area in WI

Madison and Dane County remain one the fastest growing areas of the state. This requires us to plan for our transportation future.

The next 30 years will see many changes, probably as many as we have seen in the last 30 years.

1971 Dane County Plat Map Vision 2020 Dane County Land Use (Madison Area MPO)

Notice in the 1970 plat map that Sun Prairie, Middleton, and Monona are not contiguous with Madison, while in the 2030 projection of land use development the central urban service area is contiguous even with Verona, Waunakee, DeForest, and Cottage Grove.

The 1970’s Dane County land use plan adopted a growth management strategy to keep compact development patterns based on existing communities.

We have achieved a remarkable 87% of our population in cities and villages, a great success compared to most American development patterns in the 80’s and 90’s. Recent trends are even better for growth in cities and villages .

Table on Growth	Population	Cities/Villages	Rural/Scattered
Dane County1970	290,000	90%	10%
Dane County 2000	458,000	87%	13%

This means that most people have a community identity as Sun Prairieans or Waunakeeans, not as residents of happy acres or sunny meadows, and new and existing commercial development has remained in the long standing communities as they have grown.