| Transport
2020 is a study of transportation
improvement alternatives for the Dane County / Greater Madison
Metropolitan Area.
Dane County has experienced tremendous
population growth in recent years, estimated at 16.7 percent since 1990 by
the U.S. Census Bureau. This growth, combined with other factors, puts
increased pressure on the region’s transportation network. Travel
corridors throughout the region are experiencing transportation
challenges. In the heart of the greater Madison metropolitan area is
Madison’s Isthmus, a corridor that has experienced increasing traffic
congestion, safety problems, and pedestrian and bicycle challenges. The
study will investigate options for improving the transportation capacity
of these important regional travel corridors.
The study will include a careful
examination of a broad range of transportation system alternatives, and a
thorough assessment of how these various alternatives address the problems
and challenges identified in the study area. The study will also consider
transportation improvements in the context of different land use futures,
as well as determine what the impacts will be if nothing is done to
address these travel challenges.
The decision to conduct an Alternatives
Analysis was based upon recommendations of the Vision
2020 Dane County Land Use and Transportation Plan (June 1997). In
addition to the recommendations contained in Vision 2020, numerous
transportation plans and studies conducted in Madison and Dane County have
considered high-capacity transit improvements to help meet future
transportation challenges. In 1992, the City of Madison prepared a Light
Rail Transit Corridor Study and in 1998, Dane County completed a
Commuter Rail Feasibility Study. Both of these studies concluded that
investment in high-capacity transit improvements is feasible, and worthy
of continued consideration. While the light rail study and the commuter
rail study focused on a particular modal alternative, the current study
will comparatively assess various transit modes to help determine the most
appropriate solution for area transportation challenges.
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