DMI

“More people are seeing that there is a momentous change happening with oil prices, the climate and the global economy. With these changes will come opportunities to improve the overall health of our urban communities, and greater investments in public transportation will be part of that shift.”

Chuck Kamp, General Manager of Madison Metro

Good regional land use pattern

1970’s Dane County land use plan gave a vision

“In order to grow in a healthy way, the Madison region needs transportation options including good streets, bike paths, more bus service and rail. Commuter rail needs to be part of forward-looking strategies for economic development, environmental protection and improvement in our quality of life.”

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz

While most areas grew without rhyme or reason, Dane County in the 1970’s had a regional vision for good land use. The Dane County Regional Planning Commission published a land use plan that called for keeping urban growth in patterns based on existing communities. This meant not leapfrogging subdivisions across the landscape.

Growth proximate to existing services has permitted phased expansion of water and sewer facilities and other municipal services.

Local services like libraries are often within walking distance

Waunakee Public Library (Courtesy Waunakee Public Library)

These growing communities are located along our preserved rail corridors in Dane County.

Existing Rail corridors(Courtesy City of Madison Planning Department)

Existing Rail corridors(Courtesy City of Madison Planning Department) Through the work of Dane County and its investments in rail transit commissions these valuable assets have been preserved for our use.